Memories of a Future
by ZilverHope
Summary: Three people find themselves faced with decisions that none would like to take, one would only realize how much their actions shape the world when they were living their second life, but they would not lie down and accept defeat, they had chosen another chance over accepting the unfairness of the world, if Remnant gave them a bad ending then they'd write their ending themselves.
1. Chapter 1: The Future Stays In The Past

**Welcome to my new project, Memories of a Future. I wish to thank you for taking the time to read this and hope we all have a fantastic journey together!**

**Looking for a cover for the story ASAP, if you are interested in drawing one please contact me, I would greatly appreciate it!**

_**Memories of a Future**_

_**Chapter 1: The Future Stays In The Past.**_

* * *

Jaune Arc opened his eyes slowly and unsurely. He struggled to see amidst the black smoke; The result of Salem's castle collapsing. He laid there, right in the middle of the aftermath.

Had they won, was it over?

There were no cheers of victory, no one waking him up with happy tears in their eyes and telling him that they had finally done it, that all of this meant something, that so much fighting, so much suffering, finally paid off.

The dust and smoke infiltrated his lungs, he pushed it down and brought a hand up to wipe whatever the hell it was that was stuck to his eye, it turned to be only more dust.

He tried to push himself up but couldn't, and it wasn't just the fatigue, even though it would have been enough, he was faced with another setback to add to it.

His throat? Dry. His head? Spinning. His shoulder? Dislocated. His Aura? Depleted. And to add to it all, his left leg broken.

But he was alive, just like always, he made it, somehow.

His thoughts drifted to his friends, they might need him, they might require his semblance.

Even if he had no Aura, he would still try to use it if they needed it.

He was one of the five that fought against Salem herself, with him was Qrow, Ruby, Winter, and Ozpin.

His thoughts started to flood back, they had cornered her in one of the towers of the castle.

The thought of his friends needing healing and him not providing solely because of a broken leg repulsed him, he had made it through much worse.

He forced himself up and started walking, practically on one foot. A few steps and he came across Corcea Mors, he picked them up.

His eyes caught onto a familiar shade of green clothing. "Ozpin?" He called him so, as he was finally fully merged with Oscar a few months back.

He didn't recognize his own voice as he spoke, it was weak, scrawny, scratchy and broken.

"Ozpin-" He coughed. "Can you hear me?"

The only reply was the sound of his own footsteps.

He staggered and fell to one knee beside Ozpin, his eyes were lifeless.

He couldn't believe it, Ozpin? Ozpin had fallen? That could only spell doom.

No, don't think like that. Ozpin was definitely their strongest, but he was far from the last trick they had up their sleeve, they still had Ruby, she was the Fall Maiden now, and Winter was appropriately the Winter Maiden.

Jaune reached to check for a pulse, he found none. "You finally have your peace," Jaune said, hoping that Ozpin could somehow hear him.

The huntsman forced himself up once more, his sword was too heavy and he could not carry it high enough to stop it from clashing with the ground on every step.

He spotted someone else on the ground through the smoke, the man was wearing a white blazer.

Jaune made his way to him. "Qrow, can you hear me?" He asked, devoid of hope, he remembered what happened to Qrow during the battle.

And the sight proved to match with his memory, Qrow, one of the legendary Huntsmen, had a huge gap in his chest, courtesy of Salem.

"I'm so sorry," Jaune muttered with what remained of his voice as he walked past, there was no hope for Qrow's survival.

"Boy." A weak voice cried out, Jaune's head tilted and spotted the person who spoke.

General Winter Schnee, the greatest hero in Atlas's history, the one who single-handedly kept the kingdom alive after Ironwood's demise, the one who put up the greatest fight against Salem's forces.

Her hand set over her stomach, drenched in blood as she lay on the ground.

"Winter!" He said as loud as his voice would permit and staggered to her as fast as he could despite his injury.

He set down his sword and hovered a hand over her wound, he tried to surge Aura through, but he had none to spare, not even a nickel's worth.

"It's fine, stop." She said.

He didn't.

She pushed his hands away. "I said stop, there's no use."

"No, you can't say that, I-"

"Listen to me well, Jaune," She interrupted. "I need you to find my sister, do anything you can to make sure she's alive."

"But you, what about you? Just hold on and we'll both find her!" He said, his voice slowly starting to come back.

"Please," She said. "I will beg of you if I have to, make sure my sister is safe, Weiss is all I have."

He was adamant on ignoring it, on saving the one that was in front of him first. But then he looked at her eyes.

She wanted nothing other than Weiss's safety, it was clear.

"Alright, I'll find her, I promise." He said.

Winter gave a faint smile, on that moment, it was as if all the world's pressure was lifted off her shoulder. "Thank you," she muttered before looking down on her wound. "It's so cold." She said.

"I- I don't know if I have anything on me, I can try to-" he paused as he heard her palm hit the floor, he looked up at her eyes.

They were closed, and life had finally left her body.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He said. "But I'll make up on my promise, I swear." He added as he forced himself up once more.

Each step felt like a ride through hell and back, but it would be worth it, it would definitely be worth it when he finds his teammates and the members of Team RWBY. Hell, even the people he did not know too well, like team SSSN and FNKI and CFVY.

He would find all of them, they'd be okay, he wanted - had- to think that way, he needed a reason to keep going instead of collapsing and letting the pain win.

And as naive and improbable as that hope may sound, it was all he had, all he could come up with.

Hope is still hope even if it's false hope.

He grunted as he stepped too hard on his broken leg, the ground was disproportionate and there was rubble everywhere, it would have been hard enough without the injury.

Salem's body was nowhere to be found. Was that a good or bad omen? He couldn't figure it out, was she dead or not? It meant both possibilities were on the cards.

There was a chance she disintegrated as all Grimm do, but there was no way to make sure that she did.

He needed to push on, to leave the tower and go to the main hall of the castle, that's where everybody would be waiting for him.

They must have been, right?

They must have been...

He leaned against a wall as he made his way to the stairs leading out of the tower, to think he would dread the mere thought of stairs so much...

One small step was all it took for him to lose balance and trip over, he couldn't be blamed, his body felt like it was used as a chewing doll for Grimm.

He groaned as his body finally stopped rolling, coming to the end of the stairs.

"I have to-" He tripped as he tried to stand up again. "I have to... find them."

He pushed on, not caring for the pain, not caring for the heartache, not caring for anything but finding someone, anyone.

His heart filled with despair and anger at the sight. So many people, so many people dead, their bodies lay lifeless on the floor, forming a graveyard of huntsmen, some of them he knew, others he didn't, and some were close enough to be considered friends. They were all his comrades, fighting the last battle together with him, protecting each other for the sake of Remnant.

They were humanity's last heroes.

They deserved better than this, better than to die in this hellhole, better than being used as steps for him as he looked for his friends with despair, they deserved to be recognized, to be praised, to be reunited with their families and to tell them that everything will be alright.

They were the ones who did not run, the ones who fought through it all, through the unending Grimm, through both the physical and emotional scars the world had thrown at them. They were the last, biggest, brightest, and the most brilliant beacon of hope humanity had ever witnessed, the ones who abandoned all their sorrow to save others. They were true huntsmen, they were fighters.

Hundreds of brave souls, the last of the huntsmen, the last push against Salem. And they all laid there, blood covering them, scars rendering them indistinguishable, their weapons broken and their lives lost.

He saw faces that he recognized, Velvet from team CFVY, dead alongside her friend, fox.

Cardin from team CRDL, the man who started off as a racist ruffian had ended up a hero, saving countless villages by himself, helping stop who knows how many Grimm attacks on Vale, and on one occasion, almost dying to save a family of Faunus trapped in the basement of their house and surrounded by Grimm.

He had jumped in, no care in the world for his own safety or well-being, moving through dozens of Apathy Grimm with only his sheer willpower keeping him alive, just to save a family that he would have once called out as animals.

He had even ended up being engaged to a Faunus girl.

There were others that he recognized as well amongst the hundreds that laid dead, he only did not remember their names. He saw a member of team NDGO, another from team FNKI. And some others that he had met on the camps that were set up to prepare for the attack on Salem's domain.

"Please, please be okay." He murmured as he kept looking for his friends, please don't be dead, please.

A faint sob from his left drew his attention, he immediately made his way there, above the bodies, mentally apologizing every time he had to step on someone.

He came upon Sun, recently one of his closest friends, a good guy with a huge heart, there was nothing he cared more about than his friends.

And he was dead, his eyes were open, but he was dead, those eyes did not have the same aura around them, they didn't have the excitement, the candid honesty, the happiness, and every other good quality they used to have.

But he wasn't alone.

Jaune now knew where the sob had come from, it was the person that sat on Sun's lap and hugged him as if it was the only thing they ever wanted to do.

It was one girl with smooth black hair, her weapon lay next to her, broken.

But not as broken as she was. She hadn't even realized Jaune was there, too busy crying her eyes out on Sun's chest.

"P-p-please, don't go, Sun, please don't leave me, I- you can't."

Jaune slowly knelt down in front of Blake, what was he supposed to say? He understood her feeling all too well, of losing someone you love, it's as if you suddenly lost everything that makes life worth living.

His thoughts drifted to Pyrrha for a moment.

"Blake..."

No response, just the same indecipherable gibberish she said with occasionally one sentence that he managed to make out, she was still in denial, thinking that there was no way that her Sun was taken away from her.

"Blake... I..." There was nothing to say, nothing he could say to make it feel better, he knew it, he felt it and experienced it before, with how hurt her heart was, everything he says will be taken in a wrong way, he'd only make it worse.

But he had to say something, it was selfish, so very selfish, yet he had to, not to make her feel better, but to make himself feel better, to make sure she would live, he'd need to tear her apart from her lover's body for just long enough to make sure she'd live.

"Blake... please." He reluctantly set a hand on her shoulder.

She finally gave a reaction, slowly tilting her head in disbelief.

"...J-Jaune?"

"I'm- I, are you..." He stopped speaking, he had no right to ask, stupid, stupid, stupid! Don't make her think about it, just make sure she's okay!

She broke down even harder than before, though it was different this time. His eyes widened as she quickly pulled him closer, hugging him tightly and sobbing harder than before.

"I- I'm so glad you're okay." She said, still not quite believing it herself.

He wrapped his arms around her in return, closing his eyes and feeling the warm embrace of a friend, a feeling they had both undoubtedly needed, and only now did he realize it.

"M- me too, I'm glad you're okay." He said as he gently pushed away, he set his hands on her shoulders. "But I still need to make sure, please, just bear with me for a moment."

She shook her head immediately, looking on Sun. "No, Jaune, please... please see if you can..." She didn't complete the sentence, she knew she was asking for far too much, she just couldn't believe he was gone.

Her Sun, her idiot and the one who literally joined her on her journey around all of Remnant, just to make sure she was safe, just in case she needed him.

"Blake... I-" He looked at Sun, blood covered his chest, a stab wound on his neck and a huge claw mark on the side of his head.

"No, I- I understand..." She said. She had to understand, there was no option that would be better than that in their situation.

Blake grew as a person over the months she had spent in the war, realizing that there was only so much you can expect of someone or something. First, she thought she'd be able to bring equality to the Faunus, after a while, she realized that equality in its purest form, the one she inspired herself to achieve, was nigh impossible.

There was always something wrong, there was never anything perfect, you could only ask for so much, crying and blaming someone needlessly would never help.

And it wasn't Jaune's fault, he probably had almost no Aura left, to waste it on trying to bring someone back from the dead was nothing short of derisive.

Sun was dead, it was what happened, it was unfair, she would weep, she would cry and she would regret, but not now, now there was someone with her, someone that depended on her.

"I-I'm okay, " She said, giving one last look to Sun, giving him a kiss and closing his eyes with her hand. "He made sure I'd be okay."

Jaune still eyed her carefully, looking for anything that might be considered a dangerous injury, it was ridiculous, given how she had just confirmed she was fine.

Yet he had his reasons to be this paranoid, he couldn't let the one person he found alive go, after all.

"Jaune," She said as he checked the back of her head, she didn't protest, better to let him make sure. "Is she...?"

"Salem?" He said as he noticed a bleeding wound on her waist, he almost panicked at that, thinking she was lying to him to make him feel better, but then he realized it would not make sense. "I don't know..."

Being in the position he was in induced some emotions and thoughts, panicking was one of them.

He set his hands on the wound, making sure to get solid contact, there was no point in wasting any aura with how little he had.

"I- I didn't even notice that..." Blake said, somewhat shocked.

With all the adrenaline and everything else that's happened, he could see why she hadn't noticed, stuff like that does this to people, after all. And the wound turned out to be shallow in the end.

He had generated some of his aura back, thankfully, and he used just enough to help Blake recover from her wound.

In his state, though it was still a lot of aura to spare, though, and he quickly found his own completely depleted again, he had never run out of it when healing someone. The feeling was extremely unpleasant, his hands started shaking and he had to lean a hand on the wall to not fall down. His breathing had also gotten quite heavy.

"Are you okay?!" She said as loudly as her dry throat would let her.

"I'm fine, it's just the exhaustion. I'll be okay."

Her eyes widened as he tried to get up, only for a crack to be heard from his leg and resulting in him falling down again. "Jaune!" She quickly extended her hand to break his fall, then helped him sit down and lean his back to the wall. "Your leg, your leg is broken!"

"It's fine, I can keep going." He replied as he tried to stagger up once more, not quite sure if it was the truth or not himself, he had at least had a bare amount of Aura before, stopping his bone from completely giving out, now, though? He had nothing.

"No, you can't." She pushed him back. "Just stay still, you need to regenerate your Aura."

"But we need to find them. Find anyone, what if they needed my semblance?" He argued.

"You can't even use it anymore!" She shot back immediately. "Just listen to me, please. Rest."

Jaune bit his lip out of frustration. There must have been someone in the castle, in pain or even dying, and the only way to ease their burden or save them was through his semblance.

And if he couldn't do something about it... "Then what good am I?!" He snapped. "What good am I if I can't save someone? If I can't do the only thing I've sworn to do as a huntsman? If I can't fulfill my oath?!"

His eyes softened after saying so, only now realizing that he shouted at a woman only trying to keep him alive, trying to do the one thing he had wanted to do with everyone else.

And he then realized just how much of a hypocrite he was being.

"I'm sorry..." He said before she had a chance to talk.

She quietly sat beside him, also leaning on the wall. "It's fine." Her words comforted him more than she could have known. "We'll go look, together, just... give it a few minutes, at least until you have enough Aura to walk."

It was far from an optimal plan, actually coming closer to being deficient than anything else. You couldn't expect from someone to do what Jaune was doing while he was so badly injured.

Still, it wasn't like they were in the middle of a city, there were no hospitals, no doctors, nothing. And even so, all the major cities had already fallen months ago, there was nowhere to go for healthcare, people had to depend on their skills alone, and try to avoid injury no matter what.

Jaune had already saved countless lives, just a few more, just one last time and he would have done all he could. That's what he most likely believed.

"There were so many." She spoke.

Jaune already knew what she had been talking about. She and all of the huntsmen that laid on the ground had been the ones to hold off the unending armies of Grimm while his small and selected group was to deal with Salem. It wasn't an efficient strategy, but it was all they could do.

They could not spare for any other huntsmen to fight Salem, each one missing from the ranks was a Grimm that had made it to Salem's aid.

That's why the specific group to fight Salem was handpicked.

Ozpin was a part of the group for obvious reasons, Ruby for her Silver eyes that had been their strongest weapon against Salem and the fact she was a Maiden.

Qrow had been one for two different reasons, the first being the fact that they needed to keep his semblance as far away from their main defensive line as possible, it would have more effect amidst a large group of people, the second being his pure skill that had more than helped in the fight against Salem.

Winter, being unable to properly command the lines of the huntsmen since they were not trained soldiers, had insisted on joining them, and they could not disagree, she was a Maiden and they needed the power to hold Salem back. It had pained her to be separated from Weiss, but she believed it was the best course of action.

And she was right, she had been the most agile, completely dodging Salem's spells with ease, she had turned out to be a crucial part of their fight.

He, however, was chosen thanks to his semblance.

Had a huntsman of the hundreds fighting the Grimm fallen, the ranks could somewhat be filled, not completely, but it was at least doable, however, if one of the people fighting Salem fell, the whole plan would crumble and fall with them.

That's why they needed him, to make sure none of them died.

And to his credit, he had succeeded in doing just that many times during the fight, healing many fatal injuries his teammates received during the struggle.

That fact played a large part of his vast aura reserve being emptied.

"They came out of nowhere, it was terrifying, I'd have never imagined I would see so many Grimm in one place.

Jaune stayed silent for a moment, he had remembered glancing out of the window of Salem's tower in the middle of their fight with her, his eyes widened when he did, there were hundreds, no, thousands of Grimm swarming into the castle.

It must have been a nightmare, trapped in the castle and fighting that many Grimm. All while your only chance of surviving depended on five people defeating the Grimm queen.

Then again, it wasn't like they had any choice, there was nothing to go back to anymore. And one must remember that these were no ordinary huntsmen, to survive for so long in the hell that Remnant had been turned into would require you to be obviously talented.

And not in the normal way, being naturally talented was not enough, being special wasn't enough, being a professional huntsman wasn't enough.

Huntsmen were warriors, protectors, people trained with extreme measures.

But it wasn't enough, in this world, you don't survive because of your training, you survive because you spent every second of every day fighting for it, you needed to be trained so harshly that you'd never need training again.

Or at least, that's what Qrow always told them when he trained the absolute living hell out of their very souls.

"Maybe Qrow had a point," Jaune murmured.

Blake looked at him, "on what?"

"That we needed to be trained until perfection, that we had to be as perfect as a human or faunus could possibly get, it was to reach the impossible."

She stayed silent.

"You know... I thought we had all made it." He laughed. "That we had made it to that perfection he was speaking about, that we were ready."

And it was stupid of him to do so, but it seemed that it was Qrow's goal to make them believe that, he realized it now.

You couldn't be perfect, there was always something off, you just had to do your best to fix it, and when you do? Well, something else will come up, and you'll have to fix that as well.

So Qrow made them believe that they were strong enough, that they were ready for the fight. That no wrong could be made.

"But when I stood in front of Salem and I looked at her eyes. Those dead eyes, I finally realized something," his fist tightened. "I was terrified," he still managed to push his fear down at the time of the fight, how could he not when the fate of the world depended on none of them making a mistake?

Blake simply listened, she was never good with words but at least she was a decent listener, and although she couldn't force any words out of her lips, she still understood what he felt all too well.

And as they continued to rest, time naturally passed. A fact that brought Jaune to the point of being anxious. "I've had enough rest, we need to look for survivors."

Blake, knowing full well that it was a miracle to get him to rest in the first place, decided not to push her luck. She hopped off onto her feet and offered him a hand.

"Thanks," He muttered, Blake, though, had other ideas. She quickly set his arm on her shoulder, supporting his weight. Jaune wasn't light by any means, but nor was Blake weak, either. In fact, she was a lot stronger than she seemed to be.

Steady they went, doing their best to avoid stepping on any bodies, it was difficult thanks to the fact that there was less ground than there was ground covered with corpses.

Jaune checked up on the bodies one after the other, but only doing so with ones that at least had a chance of being alive, some bodies were clearly too wounded to have a chance of survival.

But it didn't matter at all, no one was alive, no one! Body after body, companion after companion, friend after friend, every single one was dead!

Ren, Nora, please be safe.

He pushed on with hope dwindling by the second and Blake still insisting to help him support his body.

And as they both neared their limits, Jaune spotted a familiar body. Rage built up inside him almost automatically, that bastard, Tyrian. He was dead, but not only that, the weapon that dealt the killing blow was still stuck to his chest, a familiar weapon that belonged to Ren.

He had to be close.

"Come on!" Jaune said as he pushed himself harder, Blake followed through and they both looked around, trying to find any clue, anything at all.

And then Jaune spotted a familiar shade of Green and Pink in the distance. "There!" He pointed towards the man and woman that laid against the wall on the edge of the hall. It was Ren and Nora! A random corpse covered Ren's chest but there were no visible wounds.

Jaune dropped on his knees as they reached his friends, their eyes were closed. Quickly, Jaune pushed the body that lay over Ren away.

He didn't even have to look for wounds to see it. It was immediately visible, a huge gash in his chest, almost deep enough to see his ribcage, a purple liquid was also visible around the wound, Tyrian's poison.

Jaune's eyes flickered over to Nora in disbelief, a stab wound ran from one end of her waist to the other, going clean through. It was one that would be caused by a bullet.

"No." The blond slowly raised a hand, almost for no reason, a state of denial took over his mind. "No, no no no." Tears formed on the edges of his eyes faster than they had ever done before. "N- don't leave me like this, not like this."

Blake could only watch from behind him, Ren was a person she liked to spend time with, both of them were silent, both shared similar interests. And now he was gone, and so was the energetic and loveable girl that always stuck by his side.

She knew how Jaune felt, she had thought that she accepted the fact that she may lose everyone when they made the plan to attack the domain. But when she saw Sun's lifeless body, she realized that she could never be prepared.

She slowly knelt down beside him and set a hand on his shoulder. This time, she would be the one to snap him out of it. "Jaune," she said, she knew he listened, his eyes switched to her but for only a moment.

It was all so unfair, why were they destined to be in this situation? When each of them would break with only the slightest of hits. They had taken too much of that already, they had lost too much already, what more do they have to lose before it's over?

She never deserved to be forced into a situation where she selfishly had to tell someone to get over their dead friends, nor did Jaune deserve to lose said mentioned friends.

It was selfish and horrible, but she needed to carry him when he fell, even if it is away from his friends, he'd do the same for her. "Move on," She said, unable to muster up enough courage to even say his name. "I didn't know Ren too well, but he would want for us to keep on. And Nora would too."

Jaune sniffled, he set a hand on Ren's chest, for a moment, Blake thought he would try to heal him. "I'll bury you, both of you, I won't leave you here, I promise, I'll come back for you." He said through his cracking voice.

"We will," Blake said, grip lessening away from Jaune's shoulder. "We will come back." She confirmed once more.

Jaune silently staggered up and limped away before Blake could try to help him.

For a moment, Jaune wished that Tyrian was alive just so he can kill him again, slowly, painfully, avenging not only his friends but everyone that suffered under the hands of the psychopath.

...

Weiss Schnee's eyes flickered wide.

Her hands shot to the side, looking for the grip of her weapon that gave her comfort, it was a habit of hers by now, if you were without your weapon then you were as good as dead.

Horrifyingly, it was nowhere near her. She managed to force her eyes to concentrate on her surroundings, Myrtenaster was, to her extreme luck, not too far away, just a few steps to her right.

She continued to scrutinize the area, the walls of the castle had crumbled down, likely caused by the explosion she heard right before something managed to hit the back of her head and knock her unconscious. She moved her hand to feel where she had been struck, to her relief, there was no blood.

Still, that doesn't mean there was no internal bleeding. Her aura had been running low at the time as it is and since she was surprised with the attack, she hadn't managed to concentrate that aura to protect her.

Knowing better than to panic, however, Weiss continued to look around her, making sure there were no enemies in sight whilst concurrently trying to cause as little sound as possible.

There was no Grimm insight, thank the gods.

Had the party of huntsmen she fought with managed to clear this section of the castle? It was very much possible, and in the situation they were put in? It was very likely that they would consider Weiss to have fallen in battle and left her behind.

She wouldn't hold a grudge if that was to be the case, she'd have done the same, everyone would have done the same, you either save those you are sure you can save or you save yourself. There was no point wasting lives anymore, they needed every capable fighter.

Once more, Weiss looked around, there was an abnormal amount of smoke, perhaps it was the Grimm? They do disintegrate when they are slain, so this could very well be the remains of their bodies.

A sudden surge of pain caused the young woman to wince, she looked at the source. A huge boulder lay above her right leg. She could see blood slipping out from underneath.

Leaving her leg in that state for too long was dangerous, there was a chance that the weight over it prevented blood to circulate properly, that could eventually lead to her losing full control of her leg.

And so, after another quick look around to confirm no enemies, she kicked the boulder away with her free leg. It didn't budge at first so she kicked it again, no result was visible.

She kept repeating the process, although it looked to be useless. Eventually, it budged but only barely.

Thankfully, her body's nature was very slim and so she managed to slip her leg out from underneath. Upon closer inspection, the bleeding wasn't profound.

She quickly tore out a part of her own skirt, just enough for her to wrap it around her leg where the wound was.

She then pushed herself off the ground, she lost balance almost immediately as a result, maybe she should take it slow?

No, that wasn't an option. She couldn't afford to be left behind.

She paced herself, determined to reach her weapon before an unprecedented situation falls on her in such a vulnerable state.

She could almost physically feel the relief run down her body as she took hold of the weapon.

With it in hand, her confidence shot up. She quickly studied the area around her once more, she had caused some sound and it wasn't impossible for her to have missed something the first time.

As she stepped through the rubble, something cracked under her feet. She looked down.

A rare yelp of horror left her lips, even her calm mind had its limits, those limits were breached when she found that she had stepped on a skull.

It took a lot of effort to not fall over and after a careful look, she came upon a terrifying realization.

The smoke, her vision, and her overall state have all hindered her from noticing that amidst all the rubble, there were the remains of humans. Bones, to be precise, they were all burned to a crisp, as if the flesh was simply torn away.

A year ago, Weiss would fall into a state of shock by the sight, but now? Now she would pull herself back together before she even fell apart.

Upon closer inspection, she found countless weapons -most of them broken. They were all coated by the annoyingly thick amount of dust, ridding them of any color, and thus making it harder to spot them.

It wasn't that the Huntsmen finished off the Grimm, it was the opposite, her troop had lost.

No, no, it wasn't possible, they wouldn't look like this if Grimm killed them, this was much more sinister.

She had a bad feeling about staying in this place, her eyes looked for the nearest exit and she quickly raced towards it. It brought her to stairs, a lot of them. There was a track of blood covering them, as well.

Whoever it was that bled so much, they must have been mortally wounded.

But they weren't dead, Weiss thought as she heard heavy breathing coming from above.

She came across a huge metal door, or at least the remains of one, as there was a huge hole in the middle, enough for a person to fit through.

The former heiress cautiously stepped through, the breathing she had been hearing was still audible, but less so than before, as if whoever it belonged to gave up on the struggle.

She looked around, the room had huge windows covering almost every spec of the walls. Besides that? Well, the room was basically empty.

Excluding that when the Huntress looked across, there was but one decoration at the very end, a huge throne adorned with many Purple and Black jewels and gems.

But that wasn't what caught her attention, no, that was far from it.

Sitting on the throne was the scourge of life and the reason behind unparalleled suffering. The Grimm queen, Salem.

Weiss's hands tightened around her rapier. Salem gazed at her, she met the gaze head-on.

"My... it seems there is a survivor," The witch said with a raspy voice, still as chilling as ever, though.

Weiss remained silent and slowly took a step closer, there were no traps that she could spot and none of Salem's pawns, she knew so because there was nowhere in the room to hide.

"Are you the one they call Schnee?" Salem spoke with nonchalance clear in her tone. "You are the resourceful one, correct?"

"Do not mouth my family's name, you are not worthy to speak of it, and how do you know who I am?"

The devilish woman laughed, "Tyrian had told me all about you when I sent him to kill your mother and father, and by chance, were you the one who failed to protect them? Or was it your sister?"

Weiss's grip tightened further, causing her fingers to turn Whiter than they already were. She quickly forced herself to calm down, though. Ozpin had told them about Salem's abilities, knowing things about you that she wasn't supposed to know was one of them, it was some sort of magic.

Weiss finally got close enough to be able to clearly see the woman, but also far enough to remain safe. She now knew why the woman's voice was... off.

There was a huge scrap of metal lunged into her chest.

The immortal woman seemed to be mortally wounded.

But that wasn't just a scrap of metal, Weiss thought. The red lines, the unusually sharp edge, the shape. It was Cresent Rose's blade.

It was Ruby's blade.

"Ruby, where is Ruby?" Weiss demanded.

The woman replied with disinterest, "dead, most likely."

Weiss, for a moment, forgot about her own safety, she walked to the woman and even took it as far as to grab her by the hair and then pull her face closer, mere inches away from her own.

"Where. Is. Ruby?!"

"Calm yourself, lady. That is not a way a Schnee should act," The woman gave her a ridiculing smile that made her blood boil.

Weiss raised her weapon up high, she wasn't only threatening the woman, she fully intended to back up her threat if she does anything but answering the question.

"I will ask one more time, bitch. Where is my teammate?!" The words, especially the insult, would not seem fitting on the usually elegant young woman, but now? She was in no mood for jests.

"I've already told you. She's dead, are you brain dead, little girl?"

Weiss's sword drove into Salem's chest before she could start laughing. There was no cry of pain and no surprise, just as one would expect from a monster such as her.

Weiss pulled her sword away, "Next time, it's your head."

"If it eases your mind, I will admit that it wasn't I who killed her."

Weiss's sword dove down.

Salem, now knowing that this girl was fully willing to back up her threats, quickly moved her head to the side, that effort alone hurt her, but it was better than wasting the few seconds she had left alive.

"Speak, speak now before I end you!" Weiss half-yelled.

"Have you wondered why the castle broke down, little heiress?" Salem said. She did not wait for the girl to reply before continuing, "The gods, they returned to watch the last fight between their creations, it is safe to assume that they were unhappy. As they saw too much savagery from you Huntsmen. In my eyes, though, it was simply will to live."

"You lie, the gods abandoned this world."

"I am many things, and most of them horrible, but I am no liar," Salem spoke, she then smiled. "I was about done with your petty fighters, the older three had fallen, the blond one as well, all that was left was that Silver-eyed idiot. She was right under my grasp."

Weiss grit her teeth and raised her weapon once more.

"That was when the walls crumbled, I saw them, the two that call themselves the gods of the world. And that's when you had your petty final chance."

"Spit it out, what happened to Ruby?!" Weiss yelled.

"The gods offered her to strip me away from my immorality, but of course, there were consequences. She would have to die right after. They did not think that humans deserved this world anymore."

Weiss remained silent, giving the other woman a chance to continue.

"Of course, they left out that part, and the part where they blow the walls of the castle after she was dead, no matter the result of her struggle," Salem smiled as if she was remembering a fond memory, "the look on her face as she realized so was priceless, and perfect, there was panicked despair, as she was already fading away into nothingness and knew she would be unable to do anything to stop it. I think she was crying."

"Shut up," Weiss said, eyes wider than usual, "shut up, shut up, shut up!" She yelled as she drove her rapier down Salem's shoulder, it resulted in the goddess spitting out droplets of blood.

Ozpin was okay, he had to be. And so was Qrow, he always found a way to stay alive. Her sister was also fine, she would not allow herself to die, she promised it, she would never break her promise.

And so was Jaune, he had to be fine, he always was, no matter what you threw at him he'd come out alive, he did so because he had to save others.

And so was Ruby, Ruby would not die in such a way, she did not deserve to die in such a way!

Weiss's eyes filled with tears, a sight that very few people had ever seen before. She could not accept it, she could not accept that they were gone, that they left her alone.

"G- give me one reason to not kill you right now," she heaved out the words. Despite her state, they still had the same weight they had before, she would not hesitate to kill this witch.

And if she were to not lie to herself, she would kill her no matter what she says, she just wanted to hear her beg for her life, to make her feel like she lost when she drives her blade deep into her heart.

"I have no reason to live anymore. I would like to kill you, but I feel that leaving you here to suffer would be best, it is a shame that I do not get to see it, though."

"You are a scourge, you surpass what I consider to be a monster, you are worse than all the filth on Remnant. How does it feel to know that you die while you are considered as such?" Weiss said, trying to force a smile to irritate the queen.

"It feels unfathomably pleasant, your words brought me to a state of glee, almost," the woman said. The worst part was that there was no lie clear in her tone.

Weiss raised her hand even higher, she would make this strike one fuelled with the hatred of not only her but all her allies... no, all the people of Remnant.

"Weiss?!"

The White-haired woman's hand stopped as if it was petrified. She looked back, the voice was familiar, very familiar, she was in disbelief when she saw her.

One Blake Belladonna.

One friend.

"B- Blake?" She said, her eyes wandered all over Blake's body. As if she was trying to make sure she was real.

"My, another survivor? The gods must have done a worse job than I thought."

Blake's eyes wandered to the voice of Salem. She quickly took hold of her already broken weapon.

But she somewhat relaxed when she saw the state the witch was in, there was no getting up from that throne, she was impaled to it, by the looks of it.

Her eyes wandered back to Weiss, who was already right in front of her.

She could do nothing but pull her into her arms. Weiss's tears dripped down her shoulder but she did not care. "You're safe, you're alive, I'm so glad you're okay."

Weiss did her best to stop sobbing, it was hard though. "I thought you were gone," She said, "I thought you all left me, that you all died. I- I was so scared."

Blake's arms tightened around her, it took a physical effort to not simply melt into her arms, the simple touch of her friend brought her unimaginable relief.

After a moment that seemed to last for an eternity, they both let go. Blake's eyes shot up, realizing that she had forgotten that Jaune was waiting on the other side of the door as she checked for danger.

"Jaune!" She yelled, almost happily, for how could she not? "Come in, Jaune, it's safe!"

Weiss's eyes hovered to the door, almost not believing that it wasn't only Blake, but also Jaune, that managed to survive.

But to her luck, Jaune came through the hole. He could barely stand, but she did not care. He was alive, not well, but alive.

At first, his senses as a Huntsman forced him to hover a hand over his sword as he saw a strange figure next to Blake, but he soon relaxed when he realized that it was her.

He couldn't speak, he found no words to do such. He simply limped towards them, looking as if he was trying to figure out if this was real or not.

It was.

He hesitantly lifted a hand up, his eyes were wide and his mouth opened, "Weiss, I- I-"

He was interrupted as the woman jumped up to meet his superior height and then wrapped her arms around his shoulder. He returned it almost immediately.

"You're alive," he spoke.

Weiss let go, tears running down her cheeks. "You, both of you," she spoke through her sobs, "You're both assholes, complete assholes!" She suddenly yelled but then took a hold of both of them, each with a hand and pulled them close, forcing them both into a hug. "Don't ever leave me like this again." She said, now calmer.

They remained in that state for moments, minutes. But it felt like hours.

"Such a lovely reunion, unfortunately, though, I do not plan to live out my remaining few minutes watching you pathetically fondle each other."

Weiss let go of the two, she decided that it would be best to rid the world of this monstrous knave, she had already lived long enough. "Allow me to shorten that lifespan, then," she said as she pulled her rapier out.

She would end this before Jaune and Blake even realized how much pain they wanted to inflict on this devilish woman.

"Fool, you kill me now and you lose your victory," The queen said, Weiss did not look like she would slow down. "Would you not like the chance to get your friends back?"

That brought hesitation to the young girl's eyes, and even though she knew it was a lie, she couldn't help but speak. "What do you mean?"

"You are not satisfied with the way things have turned out, I presume?" The queen spoke.

Jaune moved close before Weiss could reply, he took a hold of the queen's throat.

And then he squeezed.

"Everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie," He said.

"Careful," She spoke, barely managing to with his grip around her, "You are wasting your last chance for real victory."

Weiss's hand found its way atop Jaune's, he looked at her, her eyes told him everything, she wanted him to stop.

And so he reluctantly did so.

"Speak," Weiss said.

"I will keep this short as I already am running out of time," she laughed when she thought about it, it was almost ironic. "But you three will have all the time you ever needed."

"Spit it out," Blake said.

"Time travel, I could send you back in time."

Weiss's blood almost started to boil. "You expect us to fall for that?" She said.

"Girl, I have nothing to gain in this life, it is best that I cancel it altogether."

"Cancel? What do you mean by that?" Jaune mouthed, hands rolling into a fist.

"I will not send you back in time that simply. I will also erase this very existence, as if I tore away a chapter from a book, it would be your duty to rewrite it."

"You are many things, but not a liar, correct? Well, that sounds like a lie," Weiss stated.

"Think about it, child. I have nothing to gain from this life, I could leave you to suffer, true, but I would gain no pleasure as I would not be here to see it," she smiled, it was a smile of evil, but it also looked like it had no tricks behind it, "I am not sending you back in time for you to fix this, I am sending you back in hopes that you will fail to do so, and change my destiny."

"And how could you be so sure that we'd do that?" Blake chipped in.

"I am not, but I am also sure that I am going to die here, I have nothing to lose, only you do." She explained, "You will panic, you will think that the fate of the world is your responsibility, you will make countless mistakes, it is human nature, and it will lead me to a different destiny, one where I could hopefully survive."

"You are sick to the core, aren't you?" Jaune spoke.

Salem laughed, "It surprises me that you took so long to realize that fact."

"You're lying, you must be," Weiss said, "If that was truly your plan, you would have offered it to me when I was still alone instead of letting me kill you, I have less of a chance to succeed if I was alone."

"Foolish girl, I will only say this once more, I am no liar."

"Then explain, why did you only offer this when we came in?" Blake queried.

"I could not do it with her alone, I also need the boy."

"Me?" Jaune said.

"Do you see another boy here? Fool."

"Why do you need him?" Weiss spoke.

"His semblance. To make this work, we will need aura, he is the only one that can directly force his own aura into another's body."

"How do you intend to do this?" Weiss asked. The details Salem gave were, well, they were details, that was the problem, it seemed too detailed for it to be a lie.

"You have the Schnee family's semblance, you can make glyphs and runes, I will infuse said runes with my power and use magic that would allow you to move back in time, I would not be able to do so without your runes."

"And the aura, what is it for?" Blake asked.

"Such a spell would need aura, not a gigantic amount as one would expect, but in your state? It still would feel like a lot."

"I have aura, and it isn't depleted, I was knocked out only midway into the fight," Weiss stated, wanting to trick the queen if there was a lie in her words. The fact was, if she agreed with what Weiss had just said, it would mean that she was either unsure of the requirements of the spell or just lying.

"It is not enough," Salem said immediately, "Your aura is nothing compared to his vast storage, having less than a quarter of his aura is like having all of yours."

"His aura is barely active, he needs to rest," Blake stated.

"Do I look like I can wait for him to rest, fool? I will die within minutes."

"I'll do it, but only if you two agree," Jaune said, both of their heads shot to him, surprised.

"You can't be serious, you trust her?" Blake asked, taken aback.

"No, not at all, but as she said, she had nothing to lose. She does, however, have all to gain if we mess up after we go back in time."

"Smart boy," Salem said, she smiled right after. "But keep in mind, there is a chance that you die from losing all your aura."

Jaune's eyes narrowed for a moment. "Not if you try to conserve as much aura as you can."

"I assure you, boy, I will do everything in my power to have you dead, I will not risk all three of you making it in one piece, especially you with that semblance of yours," she then smiled dreadfully, "I assure you, however, that these two would make it."

This woman really does mean what she says, Weiss thought, and she was sure Blake and Jaune thought the same.

Jaune, though, did not look like he was shaken by the queen's words. "I'll do it if they're up for it."

Weiss looked at Blake and then at Jaune. "I will not have you risk your life like tha-"

"Do not decide for me, Weiss, please." He said, giving her an honest smile. "I've made my choice, you choose for your own sake, think about how many people we can save. And if I don't make it, you can save my younger self."

"I- I don't know..." The former heiress said. Her words followed by a cough of blood from Salem, indicating that they had very little time left.

"I'm in," Blake said, "our friends deserve a better end than this, I want to make sure they never live through this hell, to give them the life they deserve."

"Such gentle words from a woman who seemed to always leave her friends behind," Salem said.

Blake looked at her, full of anger. But she managed to quickly calm herself down, this was Salem, she had magic that allowed her to know things about you, she would simply have to deal with that fact. "Never again," Blake managed to say.

"Fine!" Weiss shouted out of nowhere, "I will have you know, though, that if anything happens to you, I will not forgive you!" Her words were directed towards Jaune who simply smiled in defeat.

"It is settled, then," Salem spoke. "Give me your hands, I will give you a mark, you need it for this ritual to work," She paused, gave each of them a quick glare and then smiled, "and it will never fade away, so it will also be a warning for my past self, she would know you're dangerous as soon as she sees it."

Jaune stepped up first, no visible hesitation from him, "I'm ready, do it."

"This will hurt, a lot," Salem said. Before he could even reply, a Black sigil of some sort of Grimm started appearing on his hand, it hurt, it hurt as if it was behind burned into his skin, he barely managed to resist the urge to scream as his hand shook uncontrollably.

Thankfully, it was over quickly, he managed to step away and examine his hand, the skin around the sigil turned red, it really did seem as if this was burned into his skin.

He relaxed, however, when the skin returned to normal, the mark also started getting clearer and quickly seemed like if it was just a normal tattoo.

His line of thoughts was snapped when he heard Weiss suddenly yelp in pain. She also had the mark on her hand by the time he looked up.

And after that, Blake also received the mark.

"Now what? How far will you send us back?" Weiss said. She would most likely send them back to as recently as possible, giving them as little time as they could get.

"The beginning. I do not have much power, I cannot do more."

Weiss then nodded, so she would send them back to the beginning of their Beacon school year? That was roughly a year and a half before the war broke out, it was enough time.

Another cough and everyone focused their attention on Salem again. For a second, her eyes closed and she stopped breathing. But she thankfully snapped her eyes open after a few seconds. "I do not have much time left."

"Are you two sure about this?" Jaune said. They both nodded quickly. "Then we're going to give everyone the ending they deserve."

"Make a time manipulation glyph, girl," Salem said, seemingly heaving the words out.

Weiss complied and summoned a glyph under herself, Blake, and Jaune. Jaune then extended a hand, she took it and could feel the aura push its way into her body. It was baffling, really, how much aura Jaune had even when most of it was depleted.

The glyphs soon turned Purple as Salem spoke a few arcane words, they then turned Black.

Weiss panicked to the point of almost canceling the glyphs altogether when she heard Jaune suddenly scream in pain, she looked at him, he was looking into her eyes, she knew what he was trying to say. He didn't want her to stop.

And she wouldn't.

Everything suddenly froze and then started up again, it was slow yet extremely fast, an impossible mixture of two opposites. Everything was White but it was also Black, it brought her both confusion and understanding and for but a moment, she thought that she could see the very laws of the world.

And then everything turned Black.

...

Weiss's eyes flickered wide once more. She found herself laying in a lot of sand. There was one and only one question on her mind. "Did it work?" She said, her stomach felt upside down and she had a throbbing headache.

She looked beside her, both Blake and Jaune lay close. She quickly forced herself up, she needed to check on both but on Jaune first, he was in more danger.

She quickly turned him so he would be laying on his back, his eyes were shut but to her extreme comfort, his chest rose up and down, showing that he was indeed breathing. That fact alone filled her with gaiety.

"What on earth...?" Blake said as she pushed herself to a seating position, only when she saw Weiss did her eyes truly focus on her surroundings. "D- did we make it?"

Weiss looked around them, trying to find any indication to where they were, she was surprised when Jaune's hand suddenly moved up and took a hold of her cheeks.

"You're real," He said, smiling. "Thank the gods, I thought you were a ghost or I was just dead," he added.

Weiss's hand took a hold of his, "I think you're alive," She said with a smile.

"I hope so," Jaune said, pushing himself into a seating position, "Blake, where is she?" He said.

"I'm here, and I'm fine, we all are," She replied.

Only now did Weiss realized how dizzy she actually was, she should not have gotten up so fast, she found herself falling on her behind. But she paid it no mind, instead, she opted to continue looking for a clue to where they were.

Her eyes found a sign that wasn't too far away. It was made of wood and it was also considerably big.

She managed to make out the words and read them out loud.

"Welcome to Vacuo."

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this new story, I'll try to update as frequently as possible, weekly updates would probably be a thing if this gets enough support. But I will say that most chapters will not be as huge as this one, this one was exactly 10K words but most will be capped at 7K.**

**Romance is not likely to become a key element in this story but it will be present, just not the main focus. I will say this now, neither of the three characters is the main focus. And no one is safe in this story, no one at all.**

_**Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!**_


	2. Chapter 2: The Past Becomes The Present

**Here's chapter two, I'd like to thank everyone for the great support on chapter one and to apologize for the long wait, it looks like this story'll be weekly updated from now on.**

**I've gotten a few private messages and even a review asking if this is my spin on Coeur al'aran's Relic of the Future, the answer is a no, though I do understand the similarities between this story and his. (Which you should probably go read if you haven't since he's an amazing writer with amazing stories.) I mean, for god's sake I just realized how similar the words Memories of a Future are in meaning to the words Relic of the Future, they're basically the same meaning!**

**In any case, what I'm trying to say is that no, this isn't a spin on Relic of the Future (Which I say again, you should go read that if you even moderately like this story.) Now, without further ado.**

**Enjoy!**

**_Memories of a Future_**

**_Chapter 2: The Past Becomes The Present._**

* * *

Jaune Arc loved his friends, he loved them dearly, more than anything, in fact. And to think that this could be the very last time he sees them, that thought horrified him to no end.

He looked at each of them, involuntarily memorizing the details of their faces, there were many tears around camp the day prior as people shared their farewells. But only now when they stood in front of Salem's castle did he finally realize just how little time they had left with each other.

Team JNPR and RWBY were a family, he'd give his life with no hesitation to save any of them, and he knew they'd do the same.

And there they stood, all next to each other. If they die then they'll die together, for the same reasons, in the same fight, with the same goals.

His head moved to the side when Ruby poked his shoulder. "We're gonna make it, Jaune. I know we will."

Jaune smiled despite his concerns and the fact that all odds bet against Ruby's words, it was just like her to do this, to bring out the spark of hope in the darkest of times.

"Or course we will, we have the Grimm Reaper on our side."

"Stop calling me that!" She jabbed his shoulder, he laughed before pulling her into a hug.

"Okay." He paused, smiled and spoke again. "Grimm Reaper."

Ruby sighed in defeat as she returned the embrace.

"My my, a bit too late to confess your love isn't it, Jaune?" The teasing voice of Yang came from behind them, Jaune turned around, refusing to get irritated, he wouldn't let her get the better of him.

"Yang, bad!" Ruby yelled as she moved away, going to share her much needed confidence with their other friends as they as well exchanged goodbyes.

Jaune laughed. "And you'd have been okay with it?" He spoke as Yang wrapped her arm around his shoulder kindly.

"Maybe. I'd have been heartbroken, though, us Blondes need to stay together, why not choose me?"

"You're such a tease." But she was also his friend, and despite both of them hiding the thought, they knew this could be the last time they see each other.

Yang relented, her race falling just a bit. "I'm gonna look for you after this ends, not gonna let you two plan your wedding without me."

Jaune smiled in defeat, there was no way around Yang's teases. "I'll look forward to it."

"What wedding?!" Good old Nora yelled as she basically crushed both of them into a hug, Ren standing behind her with an amused smile. "Oh my god, guys, Jaune and Yang are getting married!" Nora continued.

Everyone's eyes shifted to them for a moment and Jaune could swear he saw Yang blush for a second, but as soon as everyone realized that it was Nora that was speaking they brushed it off as her just being hyper and returned to speaking with each other.

Thank the gods for that.

"Nobody's getting married, Nora." Both Jaune and Ren spoke at the same time. Yang laughed nervously as she forced herself away, she started speaking to Nora before Jaune turned to Ren.

"You okay?" Ren asked, a hand set on his leader's shoulder.

"As good as I can be." He answered as they both looked at Nora's hyperactivity, both smiling and eternally thanking the gods that she never changed despite the hardships she went through.

"I'd like to be invited to that wedding of yours," Ren spoke.

Jaune looked at him, shocked. "Even you?"

Ren chuckled. "No, no, I'm jesting."

Jaune sighed. "What are you and Nora planning to do after this?" He asked, now that Ren and Nora were married, they had every right to want to settle down. He still couldn't believe they tied the knot, though, they were both still twenty.

Still... when you could die at any moment, you'd probably want to waste no time.

"We're not going anywhere, not without you." Ren smiled. "You know Nora can't live without you."

"That's an honor... but Ren, you two deserve-"

"Watch out!"

It took Jaune virtually no time to duck on the ground, it was almost like a natural reaction. He felt Ren's boots step onto his shoulder, by the time he looked up, he saw as Ren struck down a Nevermore that had been descending towards Jaune.

"Thanks." He said as Ren dropped down easily.

"There's more!" A voice shouted from the side. Jaune looked on, noticing Grimm closing in from the distance.

Voices started getting louder as the hundreds of Huntsmen around camp prepared themselves.

Naturally, none other than Ozpin took the moment to speak out.

"Please, please. Everyone, remain calm. This situation was always expected." He drew his cane. "We shall go on with the plan, our advance begins in two minutes. Please, if you have something to say to your loved ones, I implore you to do so now."

Jaune felt as if a knife struck his chest as he saw Nora's face fall. "Let's join team RWBY." He said, setting a hand on Nora's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"Yes, yes. Let's do that."

* * *

They really should have expected this.

Salem never said where she would send them precisely but they still should have expected her to do so as far away from Beacon as possible.

Vacuo was a diverse place, there were many Faunus, many people from different cultures made it hard to stand out. It still did very little to help the three of them, though.

Jaune, Blake, and Weiss had all abandoned their usual outfits long ago, instead opting for more practical ones, that was not to say that their old attires were a hindrance in any way, it was simply that there was much better available, and when better equipment meant the difference between life and death in many cases, they could never refuse.

Jaune had abandoned his metal armor, perhaps he was the most emotional when doing so, it was infused with his last memory of her, of Pyrrha.

He instead found himself wearing an Atleasian outfit made specifically for Huntsmen in the time the war broke out. It was light, sturdy, and offered enough protection in the form of the leather padding under the coat.

Blake wore the same outfit, and most probably for the same reasons, she was a fighter that preferred agility over most things, after all. Lastly, Weiss's outfit was very similar, but she had made the request for it to be styled as a skirt, she was more comfortable fighting like that, it did leave her legs unprotected but she counted on her skill to compensate for it.

Their outfits would most definitely draw attention, especially in the horrible shape they were in. They would most likely be mistaken for Atlas soldiers that had just come back from some sort of battle.

But it was lively, more so than they'd have ever imagined, than they'd ever remembered. Human and Faunus walked the streets alike, teenagers ran carefree, natural smiles on their lips, the shops were more of stands with a variety of goods than stores and the merchants did not seem to grow tired of trying to draw in customers.

Jaune winced as a shop keeper suddenly stepped in his way, his hands naturally took a hold of his weapon, suddenly startling the poor merchant who had tried to offer him a sample of his perfumes. "I'm sorry," Jaune said as he quickly followed after his two friends.

When was the last time they had seen something so... alive?

The cultural diversity of Vacuo was unmatched, racism did not seem to be as bad here as in the other kingdoms, merchants and customers were made up of both Faunus and human, the groups of teenage friends were also mixed between the two races.

Laughter, honest laughter, alongside chatter, greetings, and energetic shouts could be heard from every direction, the people of Vacuo really did act as if they were one enormous nomadic tribe.

If this was how busy the streets were in the evening then he couldn't even imagine them midday.

Sadly, though, even with Vacuo being a welcoming and almost friendly kingdom, it still had its flaws.

The people were poor, that was a fact that was hard to hide, behind the smiles of the merchants was a willingness to do anything for Lien, and one could not blame them for it.

And even the groups of friends that seemed to enjoy themselves as they either drank or ate together probably had their worries. Who was to say if they could afford the same food that they eat now when it came to tomorrow?

Everyone here not only wanted but honestly needed the money.

It quickly became evident that there was nothing for the trio here if they could not afford it.

Jaune's hands checked his pockets, it was no use, whatever money he had was used to fuel a campfire at some point or another. He turned to his two friends, "I'm guessing you're both broke as well?"

They both nodded, great.

"Planning comes first, we can rent a room in a tavern and pay before we leave, there must be a way for us to make money here, we are still Hunters," Weiss explained.

"You're right," Blake replied, "Vacuo never was properly defended from Grimm, the shortage of Huntsmen and Huntresses was always a problem."

"Then it's the tavern we focus on finding for now. We can't offer help in our state, I can barely stand." Jaune chipped in.

Weiss nodded, they would also need the money to make the trip to Vale, they couldn't afford to stay anywhere else for too long, Vale was where everything started.

She opened her mouth to speak but a sudden push -no, a shove, more like,- from a pedestrian interrupted her. She was left speechless by the act, it nearly tripped her over.

She looked at the assailant, a tall man, Black hair, feline ears, a Faunus, she quickly realized.

"Watch where you step, Atlas scum," He said with a hateful glare, "Or just spare us your disgusting sight and stay home."

"E-excuse me?!" She managed to say, what on Remnant was this guy on about? "You pushed me! You're the one who needs to watch where they go!"

He paid her no mind and kept walking.

"Dirty ruffian," Weiss muttered with irritation as she wiped the dust off her outfit. She had to resist a voice in her head telling her to give him an icicle up his... no, let's not get into that.

And it was not an ideal time for her to draw attention towards them, the less of that the better, she thought.

"Are you okay?" Blake asked, she as well was peeved by the situation but had to focus on the task at hand.

"I'm fine, let's go."

"Bastard," Jaune said as he reluctantly followed the two girls, it wasn't the time to act reckless, _control your temper_, he told himself.

* * *

Small, nearly empty, and probably cheap, it was perfect. And they had managed to find it right before the sun fully set.

The three walked inside, the place wasn't too bad, especially by their standards. For them, the fact that there were walls to protect them from the outside weather was more than enough.

A desk decorated the end of the room, behind it sat a woman comfortably on her chair, one leg over the other.

"Excuse me?" Weiss spoke as they neared the desk. The woman's eyes widened quite quickly, perhaps it wasn't too often that she'd get any sort of business? There were definitely superior hotels around, it was simply her luck that these three were not picky.

"Welcome!" The woman said enthusiastically, good, she didn't mind their Atleasian uniforms.

"Hello ma'am, we would like to rent a room for the night, possibly a few nights," Weiss led the conversation herself whilst also looking around, there wasn't much, just stairs that led to another floor and the desk in front of the woman whom Weiss assumed to be the owner.

"Of course," the woman said. She examined the three of them, the faunus seemed normal, maybe tired, but normal.

The other girl less so, she still had the same tiredness clear on her visage but it was her hair that seemed off, it was almost too White, there was only one bloodline in the world that could have hair so White.

The woman quickly dismissed the thought, there was no way a Schnee would be here in Vacuo.

Her eyes slowly moved to the man. Blond hair that reached almost to his shoulder, it was messy and unkept but still suited his refined jaw and deep Blue eyes.

Those eyes.

If someone told her that they'd seen eyes darker than his then she'd call them a fool. Those eyes were hurt, and the man behind them broke long ago.

Despite that, there was an edge to him telling her that very little could surprise him.

And now that she concentrated, she could see the same qualities radiate from the other two.

The woman shook her feelings away, the three were obviously soldiers, she knew so thanks to their outfits, their lives must be tough.

Still, the man seemed to be sharper than the other two, and not in a good way, he was too ready for something bad to happen, almost.

The woman's hand reached for her pen and notes, she half expected to startle the three of them, somehow.

"Would you like separate rooms?" She asked. They were obviously from the military and although they may be used to sharing small spaces, she could still afford to give each a bit of free space.

And maybe they'd end up recommending her small hotel to a few friends, who knows?

"We will share a room," the faunus one answered quite easily.

"Are you sure? I'll charge the same for one room, a military discount, if you want." The truth was that there was no military discount, but she'd not hesitate to have one if that would give her the recommendation her humble business so desperately needs.

"We're fine with one room," answered the blond man.

"Suit yourselves," the woman said as she started writing in the note she had.

Taking a moment to observe her surroundings was a habit of Weiss's, and she found herself doing it again. Looking around, there wasn't much going on for the place, it was pretty dusty, a few small yet noticeable cracks laced the wooden walls.

Her eyes wandered to the desk, it seemed like the woman did not have much to do and was merely keeping herself busy with a newspaper. Next to that, though, was a picture of the woman and with her was a small girl.

"Is that your daughter?"

The woman smiled, eyes wandering to the picture for but a moment and then to Weiss. "Yes, that's my lovely girl."

"She's very cute, I hope she grows up to be a fine lady," Weiss smiled. "What's her name?"

"Velvet."

Weiss's eyes widened at the response. "Velvet?" That was not a common name by any means, quite the opposite, actually. Still, it had to belong to more than one person in all of Remnant. "That's a beautiful name." She added.

The girl was little in the photo, very little, a newborn, in-fact. Still, with a bit of concentration, Weiss could notice the extra pair of ears on her head, they were extremely small, but they were there.

"Holy shit..." came a voice from behind her, she turned around to see Jaune also looking at the picture, he must have spotted the ears as well.

"Excuse me?" The woman spoke, a small wave of relief washed over Weiss at that, how lucky were they for her not to hear him?

"Nothing," Jaune replied, wasting little time, he turned to Blake and found her eyes focused on the picture as well.

"How old is she now?" Blake spoke, pointing at said picture.

The woman spared her a glance before replying. "She's turning one next month."

Weiss's eye twitched, _it's just a coincidence,_ was what she told herself.

"Done," the woman said with a practiced smile decorating her face, "take any room you want upstairs, they're all empty."

"Will do, thank you again," Weiss said, returning the smile to the best of her ability whilst her mind was wandering somewhere else altogether, there was no way this was the same Velvet, but she had the ears, the eyes, the hair, hell, even her face reminded her of the Velvet of their time, if only barely.

But if she was... and if she wasn't even a year old yet...

How far back did Salem send them?

* * *

Weiss's fears came true, there was a calendar in their room, it proved that they weren't sent back a year, not two, not five, not even ten.

They were sent back almost nineteen years.

She didn't even know what to think anymore, she wasn't even born yet.

But here she was, turning twenty in a few months and in a world that was not hers, a world she wasn't supposed to exist in. She was just a miscalculation in this world, just an unnoticed mistake hiding between thousands of others.

Oh gods, so many things were yet to happen, her parents' marriage was still yet to decline, the SDC was still yet to tarnish its good reputation and turn into a questionable organization in the eyes of most people.

It was all mind-shattering, how was she- how were they supposed to deal with this?!

It was almost enough to make the Schnee scream in frustration, she had already started planning since the first second when she confirmed that they had indeed gone back in time, she might as well throw all those thoughts out the window! She had nineteen years to figure out a new plan, after all!

_Damn that ignoramus half-witted blockhead witch!_ She meant to send them this far!

They couldn't come into contact with their friends, they had to rely on only themselves. It all made too much sense, the witch did not only send them back too long for them to know anyone of note, but she also gave them more than enough time to change the past, just like how she stated before.

They will panic, and they will make mistakes, all because they will feel that the world is now their responsibility. And to Weiss's horror, Salem was right, Weiss now felt terrified, anything she does- no matter how minor, will change something from the past simply because she wasn't even supposed to exist in the past. How much will she change from now on?

Oh gods, how much had she already changed?

"Calm down," she whispered to herself, she was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, Jaune was on the bed, already resting, Blake on the other chair in the room. She briefly wondered what may be going on in their mind. Sadly, she already knew it wasn't much better than what's going on in hers, they must be panicking as well.

She looked down on her shaking, pale and tired hands.

"Everything is fine." Everything was not fine.

"We are okay." We are not okay.

_Stop! _Was what Weiss screamed eternally to her own brain, this was not the time to panic, she won't give Salem what she wants, not in a thousand years.

It was a lot of time to make mistakes, that much was true, but it was also a lot of time to fix past mistakes, to make better decisions, to make sure that everything goes perfectly.

It was enough time to formulate the perfect plan.

Weiss stood up in one smooth motion, earning her two partners' attention. "This is not a setback," She worded. "We're in a world we are unfamiliar with and unable to communicate with our friends, but we know things, things no one else knows about. We know who to trust and not to trust, we know when the White Fang will go mad, we know our enemies and they don't know us. If we can use this to our advantage then we'll end a war before it even breaks out."

But they knew even more things, and so Blake spoke out. "We know about the Relics, too. And their location, we know about the maidens, as well." Her eyes lit up for a moment as she realized something. "We can save the Fall Maiden before she's taken down."

Weiss nodded, unable to help herself as she let a grin form on her face. _We're gonna do this_, she thought. Her eyes quickly darted to Jaune, who was still looking down at the bed he sat on.

"If we save the maiden... Pyrrha- she won't need to do any of what she's done before." He looked up. Getting sent back this far was not a part of his plans, nor his concerns at first. When he first realized just how far they were sent back, he nearly panicked. But now? It still felt weird, but not necessarily bad.

He could still save everyone, and Pyrrha too. Everything was still within reach. He looked onto Corcea Mors as they were set beside the bed, the blade had stayed with him through thick and thin, through hell and back, and still it barely had any scratches to show, it was a fine blade, now wielded by a fine warrior.

He was tired, he couldn't lie to himself about such a fact, he was so unbelievably tired, the only thing keeping him going a few months- no, a few days ago, was the desire for a better future for not only himself but also his friends. The desire to end their suffering.

He kept fighting on so he could eventually stop fighting, how ironic?

He remembered how he felt when he saw Ren and Nora's bodies, it was like all of the world shattered in front of his eyes, it was Pyrrha all over again, but this time it was worse, he saw both of them, he could touch both of them, he could try to heal both of them, but he knew none of that would wake them up, he was so close to them yet they were so unfathomably far away.

It was all too cruel, cruel enough to almost drive him to give up. It was enough to make him feel as if there were no more reasons to fight. But now? There was something. Remnant is a cruel world: however, when you compare this Remnant to the one he lived in, it would feel as if you're comparing an innocent child to a Grimm. The difference was like night and day.

This world was still innocent, to an extent. He would fight to keep it that way. He had forced himself to think that his fight was nearly over, that this was all finally ending. But now he realized that he was starting over, quite literally, too. Despite how tired he felt, despite how unfair it was to ask a broken man to keep fighting, despite the inevitable pain this would bring him one day. He knew he would keep trying.

To his last breath, if he had to.

They all deserved that, they deserved every little bit of effort he was capable of giving and even more than that.

The world deserved better.

And he would do his best to deliver.

No matter what.

* * *

She didn't know how they did it, but they did, they somehow managed to deal with the shock of how far they were sent back. They dealt with the situation well, almost too well. And she knew she wasn't the only one to notice that, they were being somewhat deluded.

Could she complain, though? Being deluded certainly helped. It was far better than losing hope, or worse yet, panicking.

No, they somehow managed to shed light on a few good things, or more than a few, actually. It seemed as if they had all the cards in their hands, that Salem can't do anything about them simply because of how much knowledge they have, and because she didn't even know they existed.

To be honest, they were probably right. No one was in a better position than them. No one knew who they were, not even their allies.

Yet they knew everything about their enemies, they knew who they were, how far the extent of their powers go, what their motivations were, and eventually, how they would attack.

They had all the guns, it was simply the matter of using them.

What they knew about Vale, Mistral, and Atlas would help them quite a lot, alongside all the other things, obviously. But if there was one thing they didn't know well enough, it was Vacuo.

This place was unlike any other, she was sure no one could ever describe it perfectly, the only way to imagine this place is if you see it with your own eyes. People were friendly yet desperate, people were happy yet worried, people were safe yet in danger. It was all so complicated.

Blake knew they would form a plan soon. Most likely as soon as they were rested, yet she couldn't convince herself to wait, she needed to learn more about this place, especially since they might end up staying here for a while. And so she found herself wandering the nearly empty streets at night, looking for anything interesting, looking for anything worth learning about. She was still exhausted, her aura was still weak- almost broken, actually. But now she didn't have to worry about being suddenly attacked by a Grimm. Or, at least, not as much as before.

Finding something will prove to be a challenge, though. She realized that quite quickly. Nobody trusted a lone woman wearing Atleasian colors and walking around at night, they probably thought she was a spy.

Her mind drifted away to loose thoughts, wondering if the only reason she wasn't attacked yet by an angry faunus was that she was a faunus herself, wondering about how faunus feel when they see one of their own wearing the colors of the nation they despise the most.

Blake kept on, a broken Gambol Shroud attached to her belt, she would need to get that sorted out at some point. Getting a replacement was out of the question, her weapon was too dear to her by this point, she was too used to it, it was a part of her. People don't replace broken arms, they heal them. And so she would repair her weapon, an extension of herself.

It was still as sharp as ever, if she were to be honest. The problem was how the gun mechanism did not work anymore, hell, the trigger itself was nowhere to be found, likely broken off at some point. The handle was a problem, too. A small part of it was broken, leaving a sharp edge where her fingers normally tightened, it was obviously very annoying. The last, and admittedly most severe problem was that the top half of the blade itself was gone, broken away thanks to too many clashes with stronger foes.

Blake came to a halt as she heard her stomach grumble. No wonder she was running low on fuel, she hadn't eaten for days.

The fact that there were many food stalls around when she and her partners walked the streets did not help one bit, the smell was just too good to resist, even if she was not so hungry.

The mixture of smells belonging to different dishes as they came out sizzling hot from stone ovens was too much, even the fresh bread smelled absolutely divine.

It was even harder for Blake to resist that thanks to her heightened sense of smell, it was all so torturous!

Blake sighed, they would need to find money soon, one way or another.

"No, no! You can't take him!" A voice suddenly snapped Blake out of her thoughts, it didn't seem so far away. "Leave my boy alone!" The same voice repeated.

Blake couldn't ignore the anguish or distress of the womanly voice, biting the inside of her mouth, she started running despite how tired her legs already were. Each step felt like a nail digging itself deeper into her feet.

Soon enough, a house came into view with its broken front door and multiple people standing outside in the dark, one of whom had a firm grip around a young boy's wrist, pulling him away from the broken entrance to the home, the only thing stopping him was a desperate woman who had a sloppy grip around the other hand of the same boy.

Blake watched for but a moment, the boy was obviously resisting as well, he pushed and pushed so he wouldn't be taken away from who she assumed was his mother, he was being kidnapped.

A hand found its way to Gambol Shroud, broken it was, but useless it was not.

She quickly counted how many people stood outside the house, never one to enter a fight unprepared if she had the opportunity. There were six of them, she took a quick look around, making sure there were none that were hiding.

Thankfully, it didn't seem like it.

She prepared to charge in, although she paused when she saw the woman dig her nails into the man holding onto her son, blood dripped down his face.

They didn't have aura.

"You little bitch!" The man yelled in anger as the palm of his hand collided with the woman's face, that was enough for her to fall back into the house. "Hold onto this little brat." The man said as he shoved the boy into one of his companions' unyielding grip. "I'm gonna teach this piece of shit a lesson."

Blake's grip around her weapon lessened, they didn't have aura, she'd kill them if she fought with Gambol Shroud. Sighing, she strapped it back onto her hip before she ran forwards.

The first to go had to be the one holding onto the boy, she needed to make sure the kid was safe.

Like a beast from shadows, Blake ascended from nowhere, tackling the man holding onto the boy to the ground before pushing herself up with her hands, flipping in the air and standing on both her feet once more in one smooth motion. "Run!" She spoke to the boy, he hesitated, obviously still shook, but complied before she had to repeat herself.

She watched as the man she had just tackled forced himself up, he gave her a hateful look. "Atlas bitch."

Hearing a step behind her, Blake ducked down just in time to avoid a knife from impaling her back.

Her hands pressed against the ground, supporting her body's weight as she kicked up, hitting her assailant's wrist and forcing him to drop the knife, her other leg wrapped around his own two feet, tackling him to the ground.

By the time his face met the dirt, Blake was up on two feet again, she followed with a kick to the back of his head, just to make sure he was unconscious.

Four were left, excluding the one in the house, she needed to be quicker.

Amber eyes remained focused as she watched the remaining four surround her. Quickly noticing that they all had guns in their hands.

Stupid, really stupid. If they dare shoot she could easily escape using a shadow clone. With the way they formed a circle around her they were likely to kill each other with their own bullets by mistake.

She wouldn't wait for that to be the outcome. Her hand quickly shot to her weapon, not a second later and it was already spinning in the air with the help of its ribbons, the sharp edges collided with each of the assailants' hands, blood trickled between their fingers as they were forced to drop their guns.

Quickly after, the soft ribbons wrapped around the neck of one of them, pulling hard, Blake watched as he crashed into his partner, their foreheads met hard before they both fell to the ground, motionless. It admittedly sounded like it hurt, maybe even a bit too much.

She'd have to show more restraint... maybe.

One of the remaining two found enough bravery to swing his fist towards Blake, she forced his awkward attempt away with her own hand before her knee shot up, colliding with his chest, he dropped flat on his back, gasping for breath.

_Too much, Blake, don't cripple them. _She told herself, it wasn't like she meant to do so. Months of fighting Grimm did that to a person. Grimm and also some maniacs, but those maniacs had their auras unlocked.

She forgot how to hold back long ago, she had to if she wanted to survive.

But it was different now, these people were no match. She had to force her hands to be more lenient than they were used to be.

Eyes turned to focus on the last man standing, she noticed the hesitation lingering in his mind through his eyes. For a moment, it seemed like he would turn tail and run. That, however, did not happen, as he recklessly started swinging his fist, his legs, hell, he even tried to headbutt her. All of it was so sloppy, did he really hope to overwhelm her with that?

It was true that he was unrelenting, punch after punch, kick after kick, honestly, it seemed like he was just tossing his limps around randomly and hoping that he eventually lands a hit.

It was all no match for skill, though. And Blake had that in abundance.

Avoiding each random limp that was basically thrown her way, Blake waited for an opening, although she really didn't feel like she needed it.

Still, she managed to grab a hold of his left leg when it shot towards her stomach, a second later and the man was lying flat on his back, knocked out thanks to three precise, quick, and powerful jabs, two on the chest and the final one to his forehead.

The sound of struggling from within the house reminded Blake that there was still more to be dealt with, not a few seconds later and she was inside the house, just in time to see the woman inside smash a glass cup on the last man's head.

That woman was pushing beyond her abilities, but she was a fighter, that's certainly good in its own way.

The man's fist rose up, adamant on getting revenge, Blake was faster, throwing her weapon, not a second after it wrapped around his arm did she pull, the man stumbled gawkily, his fist colliding with the stone wall instead.

_Ouch,_ Blake thought.

The man looked like a half-conscious ragdoll as Blake pulled harder, he resisted but it was no use as with one final mighty pull, he couldn't stop himself from being practically flung towards Blake, her elbow quickly collided with his face, using the momentum against him, she winced as she felt her aura break from the contact, she was still yet to recover from days of constant combat in Salem's domain, it was no wonder her aura was still critically low all of this time.

Thankfully, the man fell on his back, unconscious. A quick look around to make sure no men were left and Blake collapsed as well, her back resting against the wall. She stretched her legs forward, gods did they hurt.

"My boy, where's my boy?!" The other woman in the house yelled, concerned. Blake grimaced, hopefully the kid didn't run off too far.

"I'm here!" Said mentioned boy yelled as he ran into the house, quickly embracing his mother. "I- he was pulling me away a-and then she-" The boy paused, eyes looking around the room before they finally spotted Blake. "S-she saved me."

Blake smiled weakly, content. Now that things have settled down, her eyes switched to the woman. Curly and long black hair, she seemed young and was also wearing a tattered robe with originally unbelonging patches covering it in various places. Blake had already expected to see most people here in Vacuo in such a state, from what she'd seen so far in the evening, it seemed like everyone was struggling with Lien and it was very common to run into people with unkempt clothes.

What she did not expect, however, was that the woman would suddenly drop to both of her knees and bow. "Thank you," She spoke. "Thank you so much, you saved everything I have."

Blake panicked eternally, why the hell was someone bowing to her? What on Remnant was she supposed to say?

Where was Weiss when she needed her?

_Alright Blake, think, what would Weiss Say?_

Something stupid but fancy, she'd also throw in a few elegant words, just for good measure.

_Or just to boast about her superior grammar later on..._

Yeah, that's actually more likely.

_Stop talking to yourself!_ Blake thought, literally speaking to herself. She realized that just a second too late.

Alright, here goes nothing, maybe a simple reply would do the trick?

"You're welcome...?"

Why the hell did that sound like a question?

"H-how did you find us?" The woman said, head rising once more.

"I was walking nearby, heard you yell."

"N-no, that's not what I meant. What I meant was why were you outside at night in Ntah territory?"

"Ntah?"

The woman's eyes went down as if examining Blake's outfit, her eyes lit up when she realized. "You're not from around here, you're Atleasian."

She wasn't, but if people wanted to see her that way then fine, it's easier to explain than the truth. "Yes."

"So you didn't know. You didn't know about the Ntah."

"No, no I don't." Assuming that they were people, though. Blake could only imagine that the people she had just fought were a part of whatever the Ntah was.

"It means blood." The woman spoke, earning Blake's attention again. "They always infest the poorest parts of Vacuo, like this one. That's why the streets are so empty at night. That's when they come out to... recruit."

Blake's eyes widened. "To kidnap people."

"Yes..." The woman looked to her little boy for a moment, crystal tears forming on the edges of her eyes. "Yes. But specifically men or boys, unless there is a strong woman, they won't bother with her." She added, extending a hand and pulling her son into a hug, all whilst still looking at Blake. "They're a gang, but they call themselves brothers or sisters."

Blake's mind automatically wired itself to think about the White Fang, these Ntah people gave her the same vibes.

"What do they do with the people?"

"Their base is underground, nobody knows where exactly, it is said that when they kidnap someone, they would always knock them out before taking them to their hideout, it's their way of making sure no one knows the path to their base."

"Then how do people know it's underground?"

"A man escaped from there before, he was so injured, though, so injured that he couldn't pay attention to anything but keeping himself alive, so he never memorized the way. He died a few days after that, in the hospital."

Blake stayed silent, it didn't take long for the woman to speak once more.

"From him, we know what those sick bastards do, though. They have a huge arena underground where they force their prisoners to fight." She paused, arms tightening around her son. "The man said that they would never stop a fight until only one person is alive in the arena."

Sick bastards, what on Remnant is wrong with these people? And they were even attempting to take a child? Hell, from the woman's words, it seemed like it was common for them to take children if they were a boy!

Blake's blood started boiling. "And why is the police or government doing nothing about it?!" She knew the government was weak here, weaker than any other major kingdom, but for Dust's sake, this was too far!

"They rely on them."

"W-what?"

"The government doesn't try. The Ntah are good for them, they get rid of the poor so the kingdom doesn't get poorer. The only government official to do something about this was the headmaster of Shade Academy, yet he was forced to step down after making his voice heard. That was a year ago."

No, there was no way a government could accept that. Blake just refused to believe so, nobody would agree to that.

"There must be another reason for it, that can't be it!"

"It's the most popular theory."

Gods, how does no one do anything about this? How did she never hear of this in the past? Something as big as this should forever be in the records of history. How did the government do so well in hiding it?

If her blood was boiling before, then now it was simply seething!

"How many of those Ntah people are there?" Blake asked, if there were enough of them to infest all poor parts of town then she could only imagine them to be in the hundreds or even thousands.

"I don't know. But they come out every night to collect."

Blake sighed, forcing herself up on her feet. Weiss and Jaune were probably worried sick, not to mention that they needed to know about all of this. Amber eyes switched to look at the broken door to the small house, outside lay those Ntah that were likely to wake up soon.

This woman and her son were still not safe, no one in this part of town was.

"Do you have somewhere else to stay the night?" Blake asked, already knowing the answer if she was to be honest. She watched as the woman shook her head. Her eyes switched to the scared little boy, she couldn't leave them like this. She couldn't leave anyone in this place exposed to such atrocious dangers. But the two people in front of her took priority, they were completely defenseless as the door to their home was broken beyond repair.

"Pack whatever you need, I have a place you can stay."

* * *

It took a surprisingly long amount of time to convince the woman to come over, and even more to convince her that it was no problem for Blake, she was also sure that Jaune and Weiss would understand. It also eased things when Blake explained that she was a huntress and that this was all just a normal part of her job.

She came into the hotel, the woman and her son right behind her. The owner was nowhere to be found this late at night and so Blake went up the stairs. A few knocks on the door and Weiss opened shortly after.

"Blake!" She almost yelled. "We were worried sick, what took you so long?!" She said, pulling her into a hug.

"I- I uhh... well, it's a long story," Blake answered, stepping aside so Weiss could see the pair of people behind her.

Weiss's Blue eyes widened as she saw the woman and the boy.

"H-hello, I hope we're not a bother." The woman said, bowing, her son imitated the act.

Weiss looked towards Blake, eyes mixed with irritation, hesitation, but also understanding. "Come in." The former heiress said with her best attempt of a smile. "Of course you aren't, we'll be happy to help."

As everything eventually does, time passed, and with it, Blake explained all she could to Weiss, Jaune was asleep and so she couldn't do the same with him, normally he'd wake up from just the slightest of sounds but the tiredness surely played a part in him not waking up so far. The woman -who had finally introduced herself as Jade and her son as Armani- was sitting uncomfortably behind Blake.

It was absurdly hard to figure out what Weiss was thinking of, that was simply the case with the heiress. What was easy, however, was reading her emotions. She might deny it, but Weiss was always terrible at hiding her emotions.

Judging from the expression drawn all over her face and how her eyes kept opening and closing rapidly as if trying to tie the events she just heard about together, Weiss was confused, but not totally so. She understood Blake's reason for bringing two people to their temporary home, and she probably couldn't deny that she would have done the same.

And although Jaune grew cold, much colder than one would have ever thought he could, he'd also understand.

What concerned Weiss the most was Blake's thoughts. She had already decided she'd do something about this, it was as clear as the sun, she just didn't say she would, yet.

The thought of changing the past too much still lingered deep in the young woman's mind, Weiss was terrified of how much they could do, they could end up shaping the world around them into something unrecognizable and completely foreign, that was what terrified her the most.

But the fear would always get repelled away, Weiss knew of the power they had in their hands now, and of the responsibility that comes with it.

As Salem told them, they will think the world is their responsibility and they will try to change it to a perfect one, but what they won't do is give her what she wants, they won't fear change, they won't dread defeat.

Their purpose was to make the world a better place, not just save it. And they would do what they came here to do.

Weiss's eyes switched to Jade and Armani, it was their duty to save people like these, a duty they had long forgotten about amidst the despair of their struggle against Salem. "You two need rest," she said, smiling once more. She briefly wondered if people ever notice that her smile is mostly fake. Well, at least the intention behind it was pure. Nothing could be wrong with trying to ease people's mind with a smile, right? "We have two beds only, so you and Armani could take one, the three of us can share the other." She said, pointing at the bed Jaune already occupied.

Jade's eyes wandered to the two beds, they were small, too small for three people, especially adults. It would be barely sufficient for her and her son. "I- I don-"

"Nope, it's fine," Weiss said before the woman could go on. "Come on, you and Armani there could use the rest, it'll be a while until we sleep, though." She added, standing up and helping the woman to her feet. She spared a glance to the kid next to her. "How about you wait here for a second while I help your mom unpack her stuff quickly, okay?"

The boy nodded as the two women made their way to the shelves in the room and started setting up the few things the woman brought from her humble home.

"You okay?" Blake said, the little boy turned to her, still speechless from shock, as it seemed. "I know it must have been terrifying for you tonight, but you've got to stay strong for yourself and your mom, okay?" Blake added, her own mind wondering when it had acquired the ability to give pep talks to kids.

The mere thought that in a different time and world this kid was probably successfully abducted and forced to fight for his life at some point or another terrified the huntress, but she also felt a tinge of relief and amazement thanks to knowing that she had already helped someone in a life-changing way.

Saving one soul wouldn't change the world, but it would change the world for that one soul.

"Thank you miss."

Blake smiled, his voice was sweet and innocent, how on Remnant could someone like him suffer such a fate? It was so unfair. She opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted as the boy's arms suddenly wrapped around her waist, hugging her. "Thank you so much miss." He said with two tears each one emerging from an eye socket.

"It's okay." She said, for what else could she say?

Those Ntah were a foreign bunch, they were a real danger and one that she barely knew anything about, they were a fight that she wasn't supposed to be in and a plague she never heard of.

But for all her inability to speak, she had the power to make up for it with action. If she had that power, the power to save dozens of children and people like Armani and she didn't do anything about it then it would haunt her forever.

Thankfully, the notion of doing nothing never even crossed her thoughts since she made her mind up to act, those Ntah didn't know it yet, but hell was coming their way, a dark hell of fury that would render them all speechless and helpless.

No matter who or where they are, Blake knew she would make them pay, that she'd make them regret the day they thought to lay a finger on the innocent, that soon they will be face to face with their worst nightmare.

They loved to see people fight to the death.

Let's see if they like being more than the spectators.

* * *

**Go Blake go!**

**This chapter was a lot longer than I planned, it ended up 8.5K words in length instead of 6K.**

**I'm gonna be shameless here and ask for more reviews, your reviews that list both what you like and dislike help this story become better. So... Review! I take literally every review to heart.**

**Edit: Had to come back and edit this chapter after publishing it with a few hours since I'm a stupid idiot that forgot to mark the ends of scenes and so the whole thing seemed very weird, apologies especially if you've read this within the first two hours of release, I know it was kinda weird.**

_**Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!**_


	3. Chapter 3: Diving Under the Rocks

**A quick apology to anyone who's been waiting for this. I know I took my damn time and I'm sorry for it. It's been close to 3 months of me not updating. College has kept me unreasonably busy. With that said. I think things have calmed down again. It'll take a little while for the next chapter to come out, a little over half a month.**

**Now, I was meaning to ask. Would you readers prefer if this story turned to M-rated? I try to write this story to suit a more mature audience, although I am still unsure if it should be M-Rated. It would be great if you could leave me your opinions.**

**I'll stop blabbering now, enjoy the chapter!**

_**Memories of a Future**_

_**Chapter 3: Diving Under the Rocks.**_

* * *

She'd lost count long ago.

This could have been anywhere between the two and four-hundredth Grimm she'd slain on this bloody night. And yet they still kept on coming, more of them, always.

More.

And more.

And even more.

They just wouldn't end, they had no damn limit! Beowulfs, Ursas, Deathstalkers, Nevermores, Nuckleavees, Griffiths, more types than she could name.

Taking the brief moment of respite, Weiss looked around. They had been fighting for nearly five hours straight, their numbers were dwindling slowly but surely, the same could not be said for the Grimm, they were absolutely unrelenting.

Her rapier's tip quickly found its way into an Ursa's skull, the foolish creature thought it could sneak up behind her just because she was slightly out of focus.

That was the biggest problem, it thought.

These Grimm were smart, not necessarily old, but at least old enough to think before charging mindlessly into the fray. How on Remnant did Salem manage to have so many of them?

A golden flame contrasting the darkness of Grimm suddenly came into Weiss's view, rising high in the air before plummeting down with the force of a thousand huntsmen, sending Grimm flying in every direction.

Yang was still kicking ass, apparently.

That move was always a favorite of hers, and Weiss could see why. Not only admittedly visually breathtaking, but also extremely effective.

Weiss noticed a change in the air after Yang's spectacle, the huntsmen around saw what she had done, and no matter how minor it may be, it gave them hope, it reminded them that they weren't alone, that they were fighters.

The former heiress took a deep breath and steadied herself again, if she were to die here, she wouldn't do so before taking down another thousand Grimm with her.

* * *

"You're absolutely insane, you know that, right?"

"I'd be insane if I sit around and do nothing."

"There has to be a better plan than throwing yourself into a death arena!"

Alright, maybe Weiss had a point with that remark, still, that wouldn't even put a grain of doubt into Blake's mind, she had to do this and could not come up with any better ideas.

"I still don't understand why you want to go alone," Jaune added from the other side of the room, finally mustering up enough courage to interrupt the argument between the two of them. Who could blame him? Weiss was terrifying when angry whilst Blake never relented if she knew she was right, an argument between them was a true recipe for disaster, even the gods would tremble at the sight.

Or at least that's what Jaune told himself when Blake's eye suddenly focused on him.

"Because you're still healing, and so Weiss needs to stay with you."

"That is the single most stupid reason I've ever heard!" Weiss snapped, Jaune mentally thanked the gods for the fact that neither Jade nor her son were here to witness this.

Yes, even the poor need to make money somehow, turns out that Jade worked as a housekeeper for a few of the well-off locals. They'd discovered that during the past four days, which had gone by quite fast. Her son, on the other hand, had school to attend.

Well, they call it a school, but from Jaune's perspective, it looked more like a small and barely-maintained building where children would go with their books- or what remained of their books so they could study.

With all that said, Jaune couldn't help but agree with Weiss, Blake's reason was pretty damn stupid.

The problem here was that Blake isn't stupid, which led him to question this whole situation, was Blake hiding something or merely looking out for them? A few years ago, he'd have opted for the first option for sure, but now? He'd be more inclined to believe the latter.

"I'm with Weiss on this one. That's no reason for you to go alone. Besides, my leg is almost back to normal, I can take care of myself." Jaune spoke out again, Weiss stood next to him, arms crossed and nodding her approval to his words. Blake, on the other hand, couldn't help but sigh. She was going up against a gang, or maybe even a cult, all while she only knew the bare minimum about them.

Their numbers could be in the dozens or hundreds, hell, would it be too much of a stretch if she said a thousand? They had to be a lot to cover all of Vacuo, after all. She also had no idea how well they fought. Sure, she already fought a couple and they were below par at best. But could she judge all of them based off of the couple she's fought?

There was still a chance that those were merely the rabble. What if they had training regimes, like in the White Fang? They would pose much more of a threat if that was the case.

Then again, they could also be pretty weak. They do kidnap the homeless, poor, or children. In other words, those who cannot defend themselves. Wouldn't that be an attestation to their weakness?

Blake snapped herself out of her own thoughts, it was no use thinking about all of that, better to go in blind and cautious than assume the good and go in brashly only to have it all snap back right at you.

With all that said, Blake knew how dangerous her plan was, and how absolutely maniacal it must sound. She wouldn't- couldn't drag Jaune and Weiss into this. Not just for them, but for all of Remnant.

Blake wasn't naive enough to think that this will be a walk in the park for her. She knew the dangers and accepted them, she was also sure that both Jaune and Weiss would accept them if it meant that they could watch her back. That, however, was the only problem she had.

The three of them were the only ones to know about the future and the only ones with a chance to change it. Meaning that if the three of them were to die, it would be the same old future all over again. She couldn't let that happen.

So, these two would have to suck it up and accept that she's going alone, for the sake of Remnant. Even if it is going to take a lot of convincing.

Blake took a deep breath, might as well just tell them why she really wants to go alone and get this over with.

* * *

It was late in the evening when Jade finally returned from her work, her son with her.

He always came back with her, even with the fact that he finishes school late in the afternoon. The trio of huntsmen could understand why he returns with his mother, though. She was grateful for their help so far, that much was obvious, the problem was that they were still strangers to her for the most part, and although they were definitely on her good side, she still could never leave her son alone with them.

Understandable, he was the only family she had. Thankfully, the nature of her work helped her out a lot with keeping an eye on him.

She'd always try to clean two different houses each day for more pay, that meant that she had the opportunity to finish cleaning a house, go to her son's school to pick him up before going to another house and cleaning it as well, all while she could keep an eye on him. Then she'd return home with him.

The trio was never sure if that was necessary, but if it was what made her and her son comfortable then who were they to speak?

Jade closed the door behind her after making sure her son was inside as well, it didn't take her long to notice the thick air.

And the fact that Weiss was pissed off, like a lot.

"Hello... is everything okay?" She dared ask.

Weiss- who was sitting on one of the beds pondering her frustration- gave no answer, Blake was sitting next to her, looking sort of tired, but not the physically tired kind of tired, she just looked... mentally exhausted, like she had been arguing all day or something. Jaune, on the other hand, was the only one standing up, he took a moment but he was finally the one to reply. "Everything's fine, we were just planning things, you know, huntsmen stuff gets exhausting after a while."

_Alright, well, there was nothing wrong with that then, was there?_ Jade told herself, she didn't really know if that was all there is to it, but she needn't ask more. "I've brought the ingredients for tonight's dinner, I'll prepare it right away." She said, attempting a smile to cheer things up.

Jaune smiled back gratefully, Jade might be shy but she sure as hell had a good heart. She'd insisted that she needed to repay them all somehow.

Lien was definitely off the table, they could never take money from someone already struggling so much to begin with. Besides, Weiss managed to make a decent amount of Lien doing minor tasks around town, slaying a few Grimm and such. It was enough to pay the hotel owner so they could stay for long without worrying and also to buy the supplies Jade used to make food.

Turns out, she's a damn good cook. Even if all they had to cook the food was the barely working kitchen in the hotel, which wasn't even in their room. Instead, it was all the way downstairs and next to the reception.

"Mom, can I stay here, please?" Armani spoke out, tugging on Jade's sleeve. He had expressed his dislike of the kitchen before, said it was always so hot in there.

"Armani, I-" Jade looked towards the trio, she knew she might be paranoid, they've never even shown the slightest of interest in doing anything malevolent to both her or her son, in fact, it was the exact opposite, they mostly tried to make them feel as comfortable and safe as possible.

Still, to leave her son alone in any place that wasn't school? She didn't know if she could, even if she was still going to be in the same building.

"We can watch over him," Blake spoke out, getting off the bed. "You won't be that long anyway, right?"

Truth be told, Blake was desperate to do anything other than... well, doing nothing. Weiss has been silent for a while, which probably meant she was brewing up some new arguments in her mind, Blake wanted nothing to do with that, she'd already made it clear she's going alone. Weiss could come up with all the clever arguments she wants, it's not gonna matter. And if babysitting Armani for a while might save her from hearing those arguments when Weiss finally decides it's time for another round, she'd do it gladly.

Jade, though, was unsure of what to say. What on Remnant can she even say? That she doesn't trust them enough to watch over her son for a while even though they'd saved both of them and provided them a place to stay? It sounds like something a huge and unappreciative jerk would say.

Then again... this was her son.

Jade let the voice of reason take over her mind for a moment, there was no way these people were bad. "Alright, but please take care."

* * *

The voice of reason wasn't wrong, thankfully. Jade came back into the room holding a hot pot of spiced rice with meat, only to find young Armani sat down and speaking with the trio, he was asking something about Grimm at the moment she walked in, curiosity filled his eyes. It looked like even Weiss was dragged into the conversation.

"I'm back." She spoke out, earning their attention.

Armani was quick to smile. "Mom, they were just telling me that there are different types of Grimm!"

Jade- although just a little suspicious of why they'd be talking about Grimm- still wondered how her son didn't know that fact already, was she supposed to have told him somehow?

Well, when she thought about it, it was no surprise he knew so little, he never actually saw a Grimm. And he was most fortunate for that fact.

He'd asked what Grimm looked like before but she gave him simple answers, such as that they resembled scary versions of animals he already knew, and that they were big, muscly, dark, and bad.

"Well, maybe you could tell me about it later?" Jade replied with a slight smile, setting the pot down on the table but not before placing a rusted trivet under it to refrain from burning said table. "Everyone, help yourselves." She added, smile widening a little further.

And they did just that, soon enough, each had a plate of the food. Sadly, the table was not big enough for them all to sit down and eat, nor were there enough chairs, and so they just opted to do like the last few days and spread out over the room. Jaune sat on one bed, next to him was Blake, she had one leg over the other and set her bowl on it as she ate. Weiss took one of the two empty chairs while Jade and her son found their spot on the other bed.

Weiss's mind was elsewhere while they all ate, she was frustrated with both the fact that Blake was going alone and the fact that none of them knew exactly what she'd be up against, it was all so reckless.

It seemed that she was also failing to hide her concern even now, as she noticed Jade look her way, seemingly concerned but too shy to ask what is wrong. Weiss tried to smile to wash her concerns away, although she seemingly failed, as it didn't take long for Jade to muster up the courage to ask.

"Is there something bothering you, Weiss?" She spoke.

Weiss didn't know if she should actually give an answer to that. It might look like she was frustrated but she was honestly more worried than anything else.

Evidently, she didn't need to give an answer, as Blake took that responsibility on herself. "She's frustrated that I'm being reckless."

Jade blinked twice, confused. "Reckless?" She simply asked.

Right, they didn't really tell Jade about this whole thing yet, they didn't want to until they had a plan they agreed on. Now that the thing stopping them from telling her was out of the way, she probably would appreciate knowing.

"I'm going to infiltrate the Ntah's hideout," Blake spoke.

"Y-You'll what?!" The usually calm and temperate woman seemed to lose her grip on her voice as she practically yelled in surprise.

"Someone's got to put an end to them," Blake said, maintaining composure.

"N-no, you don't understand. You can't, there's too many of them, that isn't reckless, it's- it's suicide."

Well, that just means Blake's got another mission to add to her already illustrious list of suicide-missions. Great.

Besides, at least now Jade confirmed that their numbers are indeed huge. Maybe Blake could ask more things about them? Just to be ready.

"Those are the kind of things I'm trained to do, Jade. Don't worry, I'll be careful."

"Well, I for one completely agree with Jade, it is-"

Blake interrupted Weiss before she could continue. "Weiss, don't start again, please."

The former heiress harumphed in disapproval.

"Jade, what can you tell me about the Ntah? Things that could help me out, preferably."

"No- no, you can't-"

"Please, Jade, I'll be going no matter what anyone says," Blake said, interrupting once more.

Jaune spoke his mind. "I mean, if even Weiss couldn't convince her then I doubt anyone can. It's a waste of time to try and change her mind." Was what he said.

Despite Jaune's words, Jade had half a mind to simply protest again, although a look from Blake that was somehow both sharp and pleading convinced her to do otherwise. "W-well, assuming you're inside their... well, wherever they hide. You'd need to watch out for the ones with blue tattoos on their arms."

"Why them especially?" Blake queried.

"We don't know exactly what's the difference, but it is rare that we see the ones with the tattoos on the surface, all we know is that when they do come out and 'recruit' they are a lot tougher to deal with."

"So they are most likely trained in some way or another?"

"I don't know exactly, but that might be the case. The tattoos could be signifying a higher rank."

Well, it was beneficial even if it wasn't exactly the case, what Jade said won't only let Blake keep a mental note of who to watch out for more in her mind, it also- assuming that it was true, told her that there was a good chance that there is some form of organization and order in the Ntah, This could also mean that there are different ranks among their members. Similar to the White Fang.

"What else could you tell me?"

"Not much, sadly. I've already told you most of what I know about them before." Well, there may actually be a few things she's forgetting, but she was not to blame, she was still having trouble wrapping her head around the fact that Blake is planning to take on the most dangerous people in Vacuo on her own.

But, not wanting to disappoint, Jade spoke out again. "Well, m-maybe you should wait a while, I could try to learn more about them for the next few days, you'd at least be more prepared." Was her suggestion, not only did it make sense in her mind, but it would also give Blake a little more time to think this all through, maybe she wanted to back out but didn't realize it yet?

"Mom, is she going to look for dad?" Spoke young Armani before Blake could answer, his words caused an understandable shock to the trio of huntsmen, Jade looked speechless as well, which was strange because, despite her shyness, she always had a tendency to answer sooner rather than later.

But now? She looked absolutely lost. As if she could give no right answer. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Weiss, Blake, and Jaune dared not speak. She eventually managed to force the words out of her throat. "N-no, sweetie, I'm sorry but I don't think Blake can look for daddy. And she doesn't know what he looks like so I doubt she'd recognize him."

The kid let out a low disappointed sigh as he looked back down to focus on his bowl of food. By now, the trio was even more speechless than before. What happened was pretty obvious, Jade's partner didn't die or just leave. He's one of the unfortunate victims of the Ntah.

Blake couldn't imagine just how hard it must have been on Jade and her boy. Those Ntah were a damn nightmare, to separate a family heartlessly like that...

This only fueled Blake's anger and told her that this should be done sooner rather than later. The longer she waits the more families that will end up this way or even worse. No one deserves that fate.

No one at all.

* * *

Another two days passed as Blake edged closer to the time she's supposed to 'Infiltrate' the Ntah hideout. In fact, the date was today, or, to be more precise, tonight.

She'd done her best to prepare, her body was in better shape than before and her mind finally started to come to terms with the fact that she is in a world where she wasn't even born yet.

Not for a few months, anyway.

The most shocking part of acclimatizing to a new world is actually how easy it is. There was nothing world-shattering about it. She was here, alive, and all the world didn't really care.

Well, to be honest, she did sometimes feel considerably weird, as if she didn't belong, but the reason for that was most likely related to the great difference of technology between this age and hers.

She'd gotten used to living without technology, she had to. The last few months of the fight against Salem saw all power plants in the cities crumble, anything electricity-related was no longer an option.

Although that didn't make her life now any less weird. Technology was something Blake associated with cities and civilization, she could get used to it not being there if those two things did not exist. But now? She was very much in a civilization, yet she saw nothing of the technology she associates with that word. The closest thing to what they had in the future was what looked like a prototype of the scroll.

It was small, had no colors, and wasn't even touch screen. It used buttons.

Buttons!

Gods, that's just horrible.

But, to be fair, all the crucial technology from her time was already present, which made sense. Cars were there, although they were a pretty rare sight thanks to the conditions in Vacuo. The CCT towers were obviously there, and many other things. Everything was fairly normal, it made adapting easier than she'd have thought it would be.

It didn't, however, make the impending feeling of doom feel any less.

Blake stood in the house, running the plan through her head for the final time. It was all so reckless, every single detail about that plan is absolutely ridiculously reckless. She tried to not think about that as she finished reciting it for the final time.

Weiss stood close, possibly more nervous than Blake herself. She might not be coming to face the Ntah with her, but she still had her role, and it was a pretty damn important one.

Jaune looked out of the one window they had, keeping an eye out for any Ntah, they should be out by now, as it was nearing midnight.

"Alright, let's do it. I'm ready." Blake spoke out, much to the frightment of Jade- who was sitting on the bed waiting as the unnerving situation ate away at her composure.

Weiss was, by now, fully committed- for how can she not be? Her friend's safety was on the line. She'd already tried to talk her out of it but failed, the next best thing is to be committed to do her part and do it flawlessly, that's all she could do to make sure Blake was safer.

"Okay, I'm ready too," Weiss spoke, she switched her eyes to Jade. "Be safe until I'm back, Jaune will watch over both of you." She said before her eyes darted to Jaune, he gave her and Blake a reassuring nod.

"Kick some cult ass for me, Blake." He added jokingly. Blake nodded slightly and switched her gaze to Jade, she didn't really know what to say to her, she was never good in these kinds of situations. And so, she settled for a wave. Thankfully, Jade didn't seem to mind and returned the wave, rather shakily, though. She was still wavered by all of this, unsurprisingly.

"Tell Armani I said goodbye," Blake said before making her way out of the room. Weiss followed behind her.

* * *

It really didn't take long, not at all. The duo could spot a group of armed men in the distance. Weiss didn't waste any time, quickly disappearing behind a nearby dumpster. Blake stood steadfast, even as the group of men in the distance spotted her.

Thankfully, Weiss was fast enough to hide before they could spot her as well.

Blake checked on Gambol Shroud, it was strapped to her belt. Still broken, but it did make her feel safer.

The men approached, there were nine, four of which had rifles.

"Would you look at that, a stray cat. Should've stayed in your little hotel." One of the men spoke, his rifle pointed towards Blake. She resisted frowning on him calling her a cat.

Actually, she didn't bother speaking in general. What could she say that would match her plan? She could never stress how bad she was with words, anything she would say in this situation would result in a fight breaking out.

Thankfully, Blake knew that aspect of herself and therefore resisted the urge to speak.

"And is that your... what is that thing? It's cute." The man ridiculed as the tip of his rifle pointed to Gambol Shroud. "So tiny, but it's sharp, so we can't have that." His rifle made a ticking sound as he turned the safety off. "Throw it away."

"Okay. Just take it easy... I'll throw it away." Blake spoke, slowly moving one hand to untie her weapon while her other was completely visible to show that she isn't planning anything. A moment later, her weapon was on the ground.

"Good, now hand behind your head and down on your knees. Quickly now!" The same man ordered as all of his group approached menacingly, one of them taking Blake's weapon off the ground.

Blake complied with the order, they quickly surrounded her. It didn't take long for them to tie both her legs and arms, then they taped her mouth shut. "Jonah and I will take her back to the base, you take the rest and search the building." The leader spoke, raising his rifle high in the air.

Blake's mind was a mess in that exact moment. Everything was going according to plan, but then he just had to order that they search the building.

She had two options, either to completely ruin the whole plan by resisting now or to trust Jaune to be able to protect the hotel.

To make it all worse, she had a split second to decide, as the leader's rifle was coming down to crash against the side of her head, undoubtedly to knock her unconscious.

In the end, she trusted Jaune and concentrated all her aura away from her head so it would be vulnerable. A second later, Blake was on the ground, senseless.

Weiss noted that Blake wasn't shying away from the plan and decided to do the same. She watched as two of the men stuffed Blake into a large sack, the others made their way inside the building, she silently prayed that Jaune's leg was fully healed. There was no going back now.

The two men started moving, Weiss followed suit silently under the cover of darkness. Like a snow wolf chasing its prey. They were not getting away from her.

* * *

Jaune was ready. He saw everything through the windows, taking slight comfort as he spotted Weiss following behind Blake in her unconscious state. Such was the amount of trust Blake was willing to give to her friends. And Jaune knew she would be in safe hands, Weiss would, as always, do her absolute best to deliver.

Now, though, was his role in the plan. In an ideal world where everything went exactly to plan, the leader of the group wouldn't have ordered the building to be searched and would have been satisfied with Blake as his catch of the night.

But this wasn't an ideal world, no world is ever ideal. And so the group had made preparations for things to go south, just in case.

Those preparations consisted of a tall blond guy. Jaune himself. He was to stand in the Ntah's way should they dare let their curiosity get the better of them.

Well, they just did.

Jaune made his way down the stairs after advising Jade to remain silent no matter what and to keep her sleeping son from doing anything but the same. He was met with seven men, three of whom had rifles. His hand took comfort in his sword's grip.

They had their weapons aimed at him, and the ones without ranged weapons took a ready stance, there was collective anger when they noticed Jaune's Atleasian uniform.

"Atlas scum, eh? You've about three seconds to get on your knees and start giving me reasons not to kill you right here right now." One of them spoke, probably second in charge after the original leader left.

"Sorry, but I won't be doing that," Jaune replied, a year ago, one would most likely think that his voice was too scrawny to sound threatening. Now, though. Well, there was a more than considerable difference.

There was weight to each word that escaped his mouth, filled with confidence backed with the seriousness of his tone. "You might want to get out, though."

"Heh, think you can give me advice? Last I checked, we had the guns here." A tick followed his sentence, coming from his rifle. Meaning that the safety was off.

"It wasn't advice," Jaune said, his hands reached to his side as his blade slid through its hilt, he extended it forward and took his stance. "It was a threat."

* * *

This must be one well-hidden base, why else would the men have moved through the towns and into the deserts of Vacuo?

Weiss cringed as the sack containing her friend kept thumbing on the rocky ground, thank the gods for aura, without it, Blake would wake up with one hell of a bruising problem.

It was very challenging to follow them, though. Sneaking through the desert was no easy thing, especially when it is at night, meaning that Weiss could barely see in front of her.

Still, Weiss managed to keep up until the very end. That was when they reached an oasis with a small, even tiny lake. Weiss watched carefully as the two men stood, doing nothing. A few seconds of silence later and she could hear a strange sound. As if something was being drained.

She focused harder, trying to make out more in the darkness. That was when the former heiress noticed the water in the small lake disappear. They had a draining system!

Forcing herself to sit tight, Weiss watched as the two men went down into the hole that just a few seconds ago contained water. She lost sight of them but could hear the sound of creaking coming from bellow, a door or something of the like was opening then closing. Finally, the drainers turned again as the water level started to rise.

So that was the entrance to their hideout? No wonder they were never caught before, this was genius! Well, if the term was put loosely, that is.

Weiss forced all the thoughts back into her head, she needed to focus. Now her part was done, she'd followed Blake and made sure to find the entrance to the hideout. Now she had to make her way back to Jaune and share the information.

And so, the White-haired woman begrudgingly left her friend behind, wishing her good luck. She was now to proceed with the other parts of the plan.

The parts she hadn't told Blake about.

"I give you twenty-four hours, Blake. Anything more and I swear I'm following you inside."

* * *

Jaune dodged swiftly to the right, sparing himself from the incoming club strike. These men were bad, very bad at holding their own. But he couldn't deny that they definitely had some sort of training, even if very bare.

He could make that fact out of their stances alone. They knew how to take an appropriate combat stance, yet it wasn't natural. It was as if they forced their bodies to obey them. Their own confidence in their skill was limited, too. That was evident thanks to the look of shock on their faces when Jaune knocked their leader out first.

And it wasn't even anything deadly, he broke both his kneecaps. That's all.

He'll live.

Their strikes were not clumsy, just very... unsure. The technique was there but it was hindered by their hesitation. Jaune noted that as he elbowed another right to his nose, it broke immediately and the man fell flat on his back.

At first, they were too hesitant to open fire with their rifles. Now, though? The sheer panic they felt as they saw him easily surpass their second partner was close to forcing the first echoes of gunfire.

Jaune didn't want to give them the chance, though. He took a hold of the chair next to him with his free hand, he pushed all his weight into the throw. The chair collided with one of the two remaining gunmen's chest with force enough to send him over the counter behind him.

The other gunman seemed to panic even more, figuring out that he was the next target. His finger pulled the trigger without much care, blasting in Jaune's general direction. The huntsman rolled out of the way easily, even if he could have just tanked the bullets with his aura, it would really sting.

Jaune found himself behind a table, he flipped it over to use as cover before he pushed it forward, charging towards the gunman. The bullets pierced the low-quality wood but that still managed to reduce the damage. Jaune grunted as he clashed against the gunman, throwing him against the wall with enough force to immediately knock him out.

Finally, now there were only four left. None of whom had firearms.

The blond man cut them down one by one, he wounded them badly but did not take it as far as killing them. One received a stab to the thigh while another suffered a deep slash across his shoulder, the last two shared a similar fate, as Jaune managed to cut off a finger or two from their hands when he deflected their strikes. Their sword technique was truly horrible.

Finally, it all came to an end and Jaune could see them all scurry off, some with broken bones and others with deep cuts, they all had one thing in common.

It was that they were hurt.

A lot.

And from Jaune's perspective, they deserved even worse. They got off easy for bastards who take it as far as kidnapping children.

With all that said, he couldn't help but sigh when he took a look around the place. It was a mess. The little furniture that the hotel owner had was mostly broken, blood covered the walls and floor alike all while he could see a couple of fingers lying about.

It would take a while to clean this place up. And a good portion of money, money that the hotel owner definitely did not have. Meaning that funding the repair of this place was now their responsibility, as they were the ones responsible for destroying it in the first place.

"Gave you any trouble?" A familiar voice spoke to Jaune, he looked towards the entrance to the hotel and found Weiss coming inside.

"Not at all." He replied, sheathing his sword. "How were things on your end?"

"Quiet and smooth, interesting, as well."

"Good, tell me what you've learned." He paused and looked around. "Can you help me clean this up first?"

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "You did this."

"C'mon Weiss, don't be like that."

"Fine, I'll tell you as we clean up." She gave in, kneeling down to grab the chair on the ground. It was a miracle that it wasn't broken already, although she could feel it wobbling in her hands. "How hard did you throw this thing?"

Jaune ignored the question as he looked around for a piece of cloth to wipe the blood with. He found one soon enough. "So, where are they hiding?"

Weiss switched her attention to the broken lantern on the floor, she knelt down to pick up the broken shards of glass. "It's no wonder nobody ever found them. They're not underground, they are underwater." She started explaining, Jaune gave her a confused look. She decided to elaborate further details before he would ask for it. "Well, not exactly underwater, I'm not sure of that part yet. The lake is more likely there just as cover."

"You're losing me. What lake?"

"A small lake, almost too small to be natural, it's right in the middle of the desert. I'm thinking that it isn't natural because there's no oasis around it." She explained before adding more. "They stood in front of it for a little while, then something started draining the water."

Jaune nodded, thinking that he got the just of it. "So they most likely have some sort of tunnel system that leads deeper underground. They'd need to if the whole fighting arena thing is true." He spoke as he finished cleaning all the blood, he took a bag and went to collect the fingers on the floor.

Weiss noticed as he picked them up and nearly gagged. "Disgusting."

"I mean, I honestly didn't even mean to. They were just so nervous they practically ran into Corcea Mors." He stated, throwing the bag outside the window and into the garbage bin outside.

"Well, let's hope all of them are that horrible at fighting, for Blake's sake."

Jaune nodded, although there was still a certain thing he couldn't refrain from asking about. "So, you're planning to let her get comfy in there?"

Weiss looked away, concentrating her gaze to the floor, as if looking for something. "Whatever do you mean by that?" She replies.

"Look, Weiss. There's no way you're expecting me to believe that you aren't going in after her sooner or later."

Weiss bit her lip. She wasn't one to lie when caught in a trap. "Yes, I will go after her at some point, I have to. And it isn't because I don't trust her to-"

"I know, I know," Jaune interjected, he didn't doubt that Weiss had the utmost trust in Blake's abilities. With that said, he himself is starting to get sick at the idea of Blake running into more trouble than she could handle. "I was asking because I want to come too. But I'm guessing you weren't planning on telling me, were you?"

Weiss sighed. "No, I wasn't."

"Why?"

Weiss tried to find a way to say this without sounding like a hypocrite. Sadly, it didn't seem like there was one. "If something goes wrong in there with Blake, there's a good chance it does with me too. I don't want to expose you to such danger, you'd be the last hope for humanity..."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Your reason sounds very similar to the one Blake had for going alone." He sighed. "I understand why you're thinking like that. But Blake is my friend too, I need to come with you."

* * *

"Hey, wake up. Can you hear me? Wake up." Someone spoke, Blake could hear the words but she didn't register them, still half unconscious. "Wake up!" The same voice said, this time followed by the slightest of touches to her shoulder.

Blake's eyes snapped open, she immediately tried to roll backwards, only to find that she was sitting with her back against a wall. She did the next best thing, quickly rolling sideways, she stood up and took a careful look on whoever it was that got too close to her in her vulnerable state. She saw a man with a thick beard, a bit on the old side.

"Hey, hey! Calm down." The man spoke.

"Who the hell are you?" Blake replied, tense. "Where the hell are we?" She added.

"Calm down I tell you, you're going to bring the guards!"

Blake looked around, finding the answer to her second question on her own. They were in a cell. A very large one, containing at least twenty people by the looks of it.

"I am Gavin. We're stuck underground. Happy with the temporary answer? Now sit down and let me talk."

Yeah, no sitting down just yet. She wasn't sure if it was safe to do so. Although admittedly, the most likely scenario is that the majority of the people inside the cell are just like her, prisoners. They were most likely harmless. But it was better to be safe than sorry.

She was, however, willing to hear him out. "Go ahead." She said, taking a cautious step towards him all while scanning around her more closely. Most of the people did indeed look harmless enough, but looks could be deceiving, plus, there were definitely a few rough faces about.

"Sit your ass down or I'm not explaining anything, you're lucky enough I woke you up before some guard decided to throw you in the arena while you're half-conscious." He said sternly.

"Arena? So the rumors are true, there's a death arena here?"

"Keep your voice down, idiot! You're gonna get our whole cell killed." Was his answer. "Sit down, shut up, and let me talk. Don't say another word before I'm finished."

Blake resisted the urge to ignore the request and ask her own questions instead. But the guy seemed serious, he wouldn't bother with her anymore if she didn't listen. Besides, he's offering to talk anyway, maybe she'll get what she wants out of him.

And so she swallowed her curiosity and sat down on the floor, the wall against her back. She kept her guard, just in case.

"Good. First off, watch what you're saying around. You saying 'death arena' could have very easily gotten you and several people killed. These people, the Ntah. They're not a gang, not crime lords, not slave traders, they're a cult. All of them are insane, they call their arena the 'cleansing grounds' and if they hear you call it anything other than that, they'll kill you. They take that shit seriously."

Blake nodded along. It was as she feared, this is no ordinary gang. "Cleansing grounds, why call it that?"

"Because that's exactly what they consider it, a cleansing. It happens twice every day, they-"

"All right, everyone, it is time to choose the most fortunate of you!" A voice rang from outside the cell, Blake looked to the source. Five men were coming towards the cell door. One of them had a huge scar running across his left cheek, he was leading the other four. "Turn the power off!" He says out loud.

Blake notices a red bulb outside turn green after that. The man immediately inserts a key when it happens.

"Stay silent and they might just ignore you," Gavin whispered to Blake, eyes fixed on the ground.

"You, get up! You are fortunate!" The scarred man yells, almost in joy, all while he points at the person he was talking to with his rifle.

Blake sees the person getting off the ground without showing any form of resistance, he slowly walks to the door, where the other four armed men waited.

Their leader, though, was moving slowly around the whole cell with a huge smile on his face. She could notice the pure horror on some of the people when he so much as gazes their way. It was like watching a crime lord in a movie. His movement alone made everyone uncomfortable.

"Who might be the other three who are most fortunate today...?" He said loudly, she wasn't sure if he was trying to scare them or just felt like saying that.

"You!" He suddenly points to a big man. Broad shoulders, definitely over six-and-a-half feet tall. Very stocky. "I like you, you are most fortunate today." He says. The huge man did a pretty good job of hiding it, but Blake could feel the fear taking a grip over him. She wondered if the scarred man could too, as his smile only grew wider when the man he chose stood up and walked to the door.

"Who else... who else." He said as he made his way to the other edge of the room. "Who else... who else." He kept saying it, over, and over, and over again. The whole place was unbelievably tense. He suddenly pointed at a woman. "You, you are most fortuna-"

"No, please, no! Not me. Please, I beg you!" The same woman suddenly cried out, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Please, please not me!" She said again, bawling her eyes out.

Blake felt pity wash over her, the woman looked scared, terrified, as if all her reality shattered all of a sudden.

"You- you do not feel fortunate?" The scarred man said, almost shocked and even sad.

"N-no, I don't, please-"

He didn't let her complete the sentence, taking a quick step forward, he knelt down and stared her in the eyes. It was strange, so strange. He looked as if he pitied her. As if he genuinely felt sad for her. He took her hands in his and hushed her gently. "It is okay, it is okay. I understand." He said. "You are not among the fortunate, I appreciate your honesty."

"T-thank you, thank you so much. I-"

What followed her uncompleted sentence was dreadful. Blake saw as the man stuck a huge knife into the woman's throat, he did it so fast and so unexpectedly that a collective few yelped at the sight.

"Shhh, shhh, it is okay. I understand your decision. Sleep now." He said, disturbingly calm, as if he was caressing someone until they fell asleep. The gurgles of blood and final struggles of the woman contradicted his words in every sense possible.

She finally fell dead. The man pulled his knife out and gently laid the woman down on the ground. "You were most unfortunate, but alas. You have made your choice." He said, head turning to look at one of the men that accompanied him. "Take her body and bury it on the surface. She sadly does not deserve a burial close to the holy grounds."

The man complied quickly, scooping the body up in his hands and taking it outside.

"Now, back to the matters at hand." The scarred man spoke out, earning Blake's attention again. She watched as he made his way closer to her side. He stopped midway and looked to a young woman next to him. He knelt down slowly. "Do you feel fortunate?"

This was sick, incredibly sick. Even for someone like Blake who thought she'd seen it all. The woman was obviously terrified, she didn't feel fortunate, she felt trapped. She could either say yes and be taken away or say no and suffer a similar fate to the person before her.

She finally managed to muster the courage to speak. "Y- yes, I feel fortunate."

The man smiled at that, now looking honestly happy. "Yes, yes. Those words are like music to my ears." He extended a hand, the woman took it and he slowly pulled her to her feet. "Please, join the other two." He spoke, gently pushing her in their general direction.

He left her soon after that and turned around once more. "Just one more fortunate soul left here." He said, taking a good look around. His eyes slowly found their way to Gavin. He smiled and made his way to him.

Blake looked at him all the way, he suddenly switched his eyes to her. Only now did she realize that she was the only one without her eyes glued to the floor.

"You, lady. I see pain in your eyes, pain and suffering, exhaustion and self-hate. But no fear." He knelt down in front of Blake, obnoxiously close. "Do you fear me?"

Now that he was this close, his face practically a few inches away from Blake's own. She could get a good look at him. His scar was deep, there was no way it was ever going to heal. He had composed brown eyes and medium-length black hair that was left loose.

Blake gave his question just a moment's thought. "No."

"Yes. Any other answer would be a lie! I could see it so clearly! You are fortunate, so fortunate! Come, come!" He extended a hand for her to grab.

This was bad, very bad. She didn't know enough about this place to already get sent somewhere else. And if her worst speculations are true, she was getting sent to the infamous 'cleansing grounds.'

Still, she didn't have much of a choice, any wrong moves now and she could easily find herself dead. She had no idea how many guards were in the area. And so, even if she was confident that she could take this man and the rest of the guards in the cell. It was practically guaranteed that more would show up if she does try and do anything.

And so, Blake pushed herself off the ground, refusing to take his hand. He did nothing but smile as she stopped next to the other three that were chosen. "Very well, we have chosen four from this cell. I shall lead them to the grounds, you choose the remaining from the other cells." He said, handing his keys to another of his companions.

"Follow me. We must not tarry!"

* * *

**I sincerely hope you've enjoyed the chapter as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Apologies if anything slipped through the editing. I don't have a beta and I'm too busy to look for one. Although if one is interested, do PM me. (That was a cry of help, please save me.)**

**In any case. I wanted to thank all followers and reviewers. The reviews on chapter 2 were amazing and I remember having the widest smile on my face as I read them. I love it when people give suggestions and speculate.**

**Some speculations were sound, others were a bit off. And one specifically made me feel extremely stupid, it was one that suggested Armani actually being Adam. And, to be honest. The reviewer was completely right with all their points. So props to you, and stupid me for creating a perfect setting for such an idea but not noticing at all.**

**In short, Armani isn't Adam, and I wish I'd have thought of something like that. But I didn't.**

**That's what's great about reviewers though, they always give ideas. And the writers take inspirations from those ideas more than one would think. (In my case at least.)**

_**Much Love and stay hopeful!**_


	4. Chapter 4: A World Worth Saving

**Chapter 4, finally. This chapter gave me a ton of trouble, but I do hope it is to everyone's enjoyment. It stands at almost 6K words, which should be the normal for this story. The first 3 chapters were a special case.**

**I'd like to thank my Beta-reader, MidKnightMoonglow99, for offering great and valuable creative advice, ideas, and encouragement. And also for taking the time to draw a beautiful new cover-art for the story, thank you!**

**With all that out of the way, I hope you enjoy!**

_**Memories of a Future**_

_**Chapter 4: A World Worth Saving.**_

* * *

"Hey, Ru-" Words trailed off instantly, courtesy of a giant Crescent Rose twirling until it stood right in front of the speaker's face, ready to fire.

The owner of Crescent Rose, Ruby Rose, thankfully had enough self-control to not fire before checking who snuck up on her. "Damn it, Jaune. Don't sneak up on me like that." She whispered while her trusted weapon moved out of the way.

"Sorry, didn't mean to," Jaune replied, also whispering as he watched her sit down on the ground. "Hey, it's my watch now, you should get some sleep."

She sighed in response. "It's no use."

Jaune frowned. "Still can't sleep?"

"No," Ruby replied. "It's okay Jaune, I'm fine, you could go back to sleep, I'll keep watch." She added, setting her weapon beside her on the ground before raising one knee to her chin so she can rest her head.

She looked beside her as Jaune came down to sit next to her. "Yeah, not gonna happen, I'll keep you some company." He looked at her, both smiled. "Besides, I can't mess up my sleeping schedule anyway."

Ruby giggled silently.

It was so different than what she used to sound like when she does that. She used to be upbeat, letting everyone know how much fun she's having.

Now it's all different, she's barely making a sound, and it wasn't even remotely enthusiastic, she was only showing that she's mildly enjoying the conversation.

She never laughs the way she used to before.

He doubts that he's the only one who notices that. She tries to be positive to keep everyone's mood up, and she succeeds most of the time.

But she wasn't as confident when she does those things anymore. She used to have unfiltered belief that everything will be alright. Now it's just hope, hope mixed with doubt.

Jaune looked at his friend. The darkness under her beautiful eyes was clear even at night, she could barely keep her eyes open.

"I'm sorry, Ruby. But you're lying." He speaks. "I see you sometimes during the day, you're so tired that you're dozing off while standing."

Ruby looked at him, then down on the ground. "Yeah, I know."

"You should sleep."

"I can't"

"Why?"

Ruby looked behind both of them, at their friends and the other huntsmen sleeping. She then looked in front of her again, back at the forest.

Jaune understood without needing words. "Ruby..." his words trailed off, he thought for a moment, then spoke again. "They're not your responsibility to protect."

Ruby looked at him for one moment. And that was all it took for him to notice how she was almost crying.

"But it is."

"No, Ruby, it isn't. We're all huntsmen, you don't protect us... we all protect each other."

"I'm not just a huntress, Jaune, you know that," Ruby said, not daring to look at her friend anymore, another gaze and she'd probably start crying, she didn't know why, but it was what she felt.

Jaune himself knew what she spoke of. And she was right, she wasn't just a huntress. She was a silver-eyed warrior and a maiden.

Someone like her must feel like the whole world is her responsibility.

He didn't know how to reply without lying, and after a moment, he decided to not just reply, but request something.

"Ruby."

A moment passed, Ruby still looking in front of her, watching the forest.

"...Yes?"

"Please rest." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "For me, please."

Ruby looked at him in response, this time failing to contain herself. She felt a tear slip past her cheek.

"No, Jaune... I'm sorry." She replied, standing up and taking her weapon to go watch the other side of camp.

* * *

The terrain was rough and uneven, the only light present being the one coming from the rare dim candles randomly scattered around the walls. It was at times like these that Blake appreciated her heightened faunus senses the most.

She was capable of looking around and studying the place without much worry of tripping down. Unlike the other three dragged with her.

There were many intersecting hallways and they regularly had to change directions. It seemed like whoever dug these tunnels was either a designing genius that managed to connect all the place to itself or just someone who didn't care much. She secretly hoped it would be the former, as it would help her navigate and memorize the place easier if some thought was put into it.

It wasn't easy to focus, though, not with what was going on in front of her.

As they walked, the scarred man that she assumed to be some sort of leader just wouldn't shut up, he was singing softly, so softly that it felt like he was reciting a lullaby of some kind, his voice wasn't horrible, but that wasn't what interested her, what interested her were the words.

"_A coward, like an old mountain, will be scoured._"

_"A weakling, unsoured like an innocent lamb, will be devoured."_

_"A fighter, pure like fire, in their beauty we are empowered."_

_"Yet their blood, they desire."_

_"Hear the thunder of the gods."_

_"And in its brilliance, lay down your head."_

_"And retire."_

Blake shook her head, trying to get the words out of her mind, it took her a second, but she did so successfully. Instead, opting to look around once more.

As she speculated, guards were a common sight. At least one in each hallway. It would have been a disaster if she decided to fight alone, guards would hear it and surround her from every direction.

"Ha, we've reached first. How fortunate!" Blake's eyes snapped to look ahead once again, it was the scarred man who spoke, reminding Blake that he ordered other guards to collect people from other cells.

"I am afraid that this is it, my dear chosen, I must leave you to walk your road to the end now." The man speaks once more, turning to face them. Behind him was a huge wooden gate, two torches were attached to it, making seeing a whole lot easier. "Now, please, do go in."

As if they needed more convincing than the guns pointed at them to comply, the other guards started pushing Blake and the other three with the muzzles of their rifles.

The two men went in first, then the other woman. Blake was next to go. As she went in, the gate close behind her. She could immediately make almost everything out.

A huge arena, half the size of a football field.

It was littered with stake pits, fire pits, pits with barbed wires, others with snakes. And that's not to mention the abundant amount of barricades, she guessed that the reason for it was that they don't want the competitors to rely on ranged combat.

She looked around, multiple doors similar to the one she and the other three came into the arena from, at least ten of them. Some were open and letting similar groups inside. Some were already closing after letting other groups inside, and some were still opening.

With all that said, none of it was more terrifying than what she spotted when she looked up, hundreds of maniacs on stands, looking down on them. They were all sick, they were eager to see people die.

Sick, sick to the core. People who loved death.

She'd seen her fair share of death, she'd seen enough death to know how precious life is. These people, though, use it as some sort of fuel.

What was even worse was how they tried so hard to make death sound like this glorious and much sought-after treasure. Blake could only feel that they were using those things as a means to make themselves feel better about their sick nature, as a means to justify their disgusting wants.

They are using gods, worship, and sin as an excuse, but no god would ask for this.

Or at least no god worth worshiping.

"I feel sick." The shorter man of the two spoke, he had every right to be, it doesn't get much scarier than this.

Blake couldn't stop herself from thinking about it, whoever is brought to this arena would most likely be hungry, thirsty, confused, tired, and terrified. They would have little to no combat experience but they were still expected to fight for their lives.

It was a disaster, a disaster standing against everything a true Huntsman believes in. They were the ones trained for this, they were the ones that could handle pressure, that could fight in such unfair conditions, that's what they sign up for.

They endure the torture so others can live in peace, they face death constantly so other families can sleep well at night.

So why?

Why does she see the exact opposite!

People dragged away from their family, forced to die in cruelty for no reason, right in front of her face, Blake could see that these people that she fought to protect are still forced to go through the same hell as her.

The Ntah were spitting on every huntsman's morals!

It was the biggest bad joke the world could throw at her, it was telling her that all she was doing was never going to be enough, that her friends had died to save a world so unkind. It quickly made her realize the real reason to why she's here, why she went back in time.

She could only realize this because she was practically living her second life. In a previous time, when she was still fighting against Salem with her friends. All she wished for was that they win and finally get their deserved rest, their happily ever after. She'd have probably called off her career as soon as she feels the world was stable again.

She'd seen enough fighting.

But now she sees it. Even if they manage to defeat Salem this time around, even if the world doesn't fall apart. Things will always be going on behind the scenes.

People will never stop being hurt.

All she could hope to do now is to change that hurt into something else, something more.

Something meaningful.

It was at this moment that she finally realized.

The world will never stop needing her.

And as long as she can, she'll be there.

* * *

Weiss Schnee was making her way up the stairs. She'd helped Jaune with some of the cleaning but now intended to check up on Jade and her son while Jaune finishes things up downstairs.

She knocked gently on the door, just not to freak out Jade and to inform her that she's coming in.

Upon opening the door, Weiss immediately saw the woman. She also quickly remembered how she told Jaune to ask Jade to stay put and keep her son with her at all times.

It seems like he did inform her to stay put. Maybe even a bit too well, as Weiss could swear that Jade had been sitting the exact same way on the bed last time she saw her, and that was at least two hours ago.

Armani had also somehow managed to still be asleep.

Weiss briefly wondered if he ever woke up due to the sounds downstairs.

"Is it over?" Jade spoke, still shaken.

"Yes, it's over," Weiss replied, making her way towards the woman before sitting down next to her, she could almost physically feel the tension Jade's body was in. She tried putting a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "It's fine, everything's going according to plan, there's nothing to worry about."

"Will Blake be okay?" Jade asked. It might be easy for the huntress to forget, simply because of how many times she'd done similar things. But Blake saved this woman's life, and her son's. She obviously didn't want anything bad to happen to her savior.

"It'll take much more than a bunch of idiots to bring her down," Weiss replied.

"They're not a bunch, though... there's a lot of them, she should never have gone through with that plan."

"Blake's a tricky one, she's probably already causing them all sort of problems in there," Weiss replied again. Still backing her words, partly because she wanted to ease Jade's mind, the other reason for it was probably to extinguish her own worries, she wanted to convince herself that Blake's making it out in one piece.

"Hopefully you're right."

Reason unknown to her, Weiss didn't reply to that, and instead opted to change the subject. "It's probably best for you to get some rest now, Jaune and I will do the same once the owner is here, we have a few things to talk to her about."

* * *

"Attention, attention. Dear chosen." A voice came from above. Blake looked up to the source, the other people brought to the arena did the same.

A man could be seen, he was the only one standing out of the huge crowd. Blake couldn't quite make out his face.

"For those of you joining us for the first time, I welcome you!" He says, cheering at the end. The whole crowd cheered right after him.

Blake could feel a chill run down her spine at the explosion of sound.

"And for those of you familiar faces who so gracefully honor us with your presence once more, I welcome you!"

The crowd cheers once more, louder, much louder this time. Blake thought it to be a coincidence until she looked at the far side of the arena, where a tall man stood, hands in the air greeting the crowd.

They were cheering for him, and he liked it.

"The rules are simple!" The man above speaks again once the crowd settles down. "Ten teams, each with four members, representing their cell. The winning team earns their cell extra food until tomorrow night!"

_What? _Blake told herself. Were these people seriously fighting to the death over food?

No, scratch that, they weren't fighting for food. They were fighting to survive, no doubt. But did this man up there really think that extra food is an adequate payment to someone who fought to the death?

What on Remnant is wrong with this place!

As soon as she thought she was starting to figure them out, something new happens. This man, she didn't see him as some religious cult leader, he didn't say a single thing about religion!

She felt him more like an announcer in a bandit show.

But he had the charisma, enough to make it work for the audience watching.

At this point, Blake was starting to doubt if the word 'cult' is a fair representation to what these people really are, the only person who seemed to have some sort of faith in anything was the scarred man who picked her and the other three people out of their cell.

"In front of you are weapons laid randomly on the ground, think of them as your one connection to the gods as you slay your enemies!" The man speaks once more.

And that was the first thing about any gods Blake had heard. At least it's some sort of progress.

"May the worthy remain, begin!"

Immediately, some of the people in the arena run forward to grab a weapon. Others stood still, confused, Blake was one of them, but it didn't take her long to catch on.

She found herself running towards a sword on the ground.

As she neared it, she took a last look at the people who ran quickly, trying to memorize their faces or bodies, they were the most dangerous bunch, as they have experience in this arena, and since they survived it, it means that they were capable of surviving a fight that had at least thirty-nine others dead.

Blake slid across the ground, grabbing a short-sword in her hand and making sure to catch sand along the way to make sure that it won't slip off easily.

By the time she was up, it had already started. The first thing she saw was a sword struck through someone's chest on the other side of the arena.

She looked elsewhere, only to find that pretty much everyone was already fighting or about to. She looked behind her to see the two men from her cell start running towards her, the woman followed soon after, scared of being left behind.

"We need to stick together." The bigger of the two men said. The other one replied with a nod while the woman stayed silent behind them.

Blake looked forward once more, just to see someone else get struck down.

_They're making us fight like animals_ was her first thought.

They are stripping these people's humanity away from them, turning them into machines that kill to survive.

"Yes, let's stay together and-"

"No," Blake spoke.

"No?" One of the guys looked at her, bewildered.

"No, I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to kill innocents." She explains as she straps her sword to her Atleasian uniform.

"Wha-"

"Forget the bitch!" The smaller man tells the other. "us, let's stick together, these two are dead weight anyway." He adds as he looks at Blake and the other woman.

While the other man doesn't seem to fully agree, he still opts to choose to fight for his life, and so he joins him and they both move forward carefully.

The other woman looks at Blake and immediately decides that the other two guys would be a better company to stick with, so she grabs a small weapon and runs after them. "Wait, don't leave me behind!"

Blake watches, cursing silently at the whole situation, it feels like half of the people in the arena were already dead.

_Think, Blake, think!_ She tells herself.

Trying to squeeze any solution out of her brain, Blake fails to notice the singing of the crowd above her, mistaking it for normal cheering until it was loud enough to almost shake the ground.

She looked up, and in a moment of pure horror, she realizes that most eyes were fixated on her as they sang.

"_A coward, like an old mountain, will be scoured._"

"_A coward, like an old mountain, will be scoured._"

"_A coward, like an old mountain, will be scoured._"

They sang again and again, relentlessly.

They saw her as a coward that was too afraid to fight.

She wasn't afraid, she wasn't.

She wasn't.

_I'm just trying to figure this out..._

Blake managed to snap herself out of her thoughts just in time to notice that the chants of the crowd weren't only off-putting her, but they were also notifying others about her.

She could see the man from earlier, the one that the crowd heavily cheered for at the beginning. He was making his way to her, looking her dead in the eyes while holding an intimidating greatsword.

The huntress looked around as quick as she could, and in the distance, she could see that one of the men from her group, the shorter one, was just struck down.

But that wasn't time to focus on that, she saw something else. Right in the middle of the desert-like arena, a wooden platform made of stacked barricades was visible. It was perfect.

"Hiagh!" Blake heard the heavy groan, she looked beside her to see the very intimidating greatsword swinging right at her, she rolled out of the way with moderate ease.

She didn't notice it, but that one small move earned many cheers from the crowd, just because of how easy she made it look like.

As Blake ran towards the platform, the man who tried to kill her looked angrily at the spectators. "Don't cheer her you bastards!" He yelled before turning around to look at his running prey. "I'm gonna kill you!" He yells as he follows suit.

Blake started climbing the crumbling platform, not taking long to reach the top thanks to her superior agility.

Once at the top, she looked around. Almost everyone was dead. She could see that the other man and woman from her group were still hanging on, but other than that, less than ten people were left, her included.

If she could convince the others to stop fighting, there's a chance more people could make it out alive.

"People!" She tries yelling, nobody hears her. "People, listen!" She yells again, louder. But no one bats an eye.

"PEOPLE!" She yells at the top of her lungs, still nothing. She looks annoyingly at the crowd, they're simply too loud.

Before the huntress could attempt to come up with a different plan, she found the man who previously tried to kill her, he was standing on the ground, right in front of the platform.

"You don't need to do this!" Blake tries to yell, he was close, he might hear.

Her reply was him proceeding to throw his gigantic greatsword at her, she ducked down and watched it fly over her head.

The crowd cheered again.

"Damn you, slippery piece of shit!" He yells from bellow. "I'll kill you, you hear me!" He adds.

Blake watches as he starts climbing up to her. He was dangerous. She could see it in his smile both times he tried to kill her.

That man enjoys killing. And he's already chosen her as his next target.

This man had to be taken down. And so Blake watched and watched as he climbed.

She could see a sharp piece of metal was sticking out of the mostly wooden barricade, and he was climbing right towards, Blake formulated the plan as quick as she could.

She jumped just as his chest aligned with the blade-like piece of metal. Spinning in the air, she used all the force she could to kick the man straight onto the piece of metal.

Finally, the huntress landed on her feet, she quickly turned around to see the man fall to the ground.

Blake didn't want to attack the innocent, yet this man was anything but innocent, he was a special case, one that she had to deal with, or he'd only inflict more damage.

"I'm gonna... I am going to make you pay for that." The man spoke, much to Blake's dismay, he slowly started to push himself off the ground, aura flashing then breaking.

So he had aura, but at least now it is out of the way.

Blake didn't wait for him to get up, instead opting to finish what she started, and so, the huntress charges at him. Yet he proved to be deceivably fast, as his hand shot up to grapple Blake by the throat.

The huntress's eyes flashed but she managed to duck out of the way in the last moment, as if playing a game of limbo, only a really dangerous one.

Not one to waste an opportunity, she followed by a slash across her opponent's back, as a stab would be too much of a risky bet, she didn't know how sturdy her sword is.

Blood dripped down the wound and the man groaned in severe pain, he attempted to spin around and attack back but Blake saw it coming, and his spinning attack collided with nothing more than an image of herself, one that immediately turned into nothingness.

Before he could comprehend, Blake delivered the blow that would decide the fight, one clear and clean slash across his leg, immediately rendering him immobile...

Blake watched as he dropped to his knees, groaning from the pain.

"Damned... bitch." He spoke as he tried to get up.

It was a lost cause, all he could do is look at his victorious opponent standing in front of him.

"You could've killed me already..." He spoke, grinning. "But you didn't."

Blake knelt, a safe distance away. "The crowd, they were cheering for you at the start."

He smiled. "Of course they were."

"Why?"

Silence presumed for a moment as the man took in a deep breath with a wide smile. As if enjoying the fresh morning air. "I killed, I killed, then I killed some more."

Blake looked at him with disgust. There will be no more killing for him, no more mindless killing. Even if he was to live, he was too injured to fight for months, she'd have dealt with the Ntah by then. She knew she would.

"And I'll kill even more!" The man suddenly yelled, Blake snapped out of her thoughts faster than any enemy could have accounted for, and as he used all his remaining strength to lunge himself at her, he was met by her blade instead.

And so, only three out of forty remained.

* * *

_Explaining the situation would have probably been a lot easier if Weiss hadn't been up there with Jade_, Jaune told himself as he watched the shocked hotel owner freeze like a statue upon entering the building.

"Okay... before you say anything, just keep in mind that-"

"WHAT HAPPENED HERE!"

Jaune cringed at the yelling. At least that would probably bring Weiss down here. But meanwhile, he had to calm this understandably and rightfully confused, mad, and worried woman down.

"Listen, listen, we're gonna pay all your repair fees, alright!" He tries.

If her eyes twitching uncontrollably was an indication, his words weren't enough to calm her down in the slightest.

"We'll pay you even more! For the trouble, just-"

"Good morning, miss Scarlatina." Weiss cut him off, coming down the stairs.

The hotel owner stared at her so intensely that one would think her eyes are almost popping out of their sockets. "Don't you good morning me! What-"

"The place was attacked, miss Scarlatina. We had to defend ourselves." Weiss cut her off.

Jaune gave Weiss a look, clearly asking her what the hell she was doing.

Weiss returned the look with an unamused glare, forcing Jaune to forget the screaming and think for a second.

In hindsight, it was much easier to do this than tell the owner that they had brought the Ntah to the building on purpose.

It wouldn't make a difference, in the end, as they would pay for the damage cost either way.

Jaune decided to play along.

The woman seemed to regain a bit of her composure as she realized that they had fought off some sort of break-in. "Attacked by who?"

"The Ntah, they came to search the building."

"T-the Ntah?"

"Yes, they came in, a whole group." Jaune pitched in.

"N-no way." The woman said in disbelief. She brought her hand up to her forehead, checking her own temperature.

"Miss Scarlatina?" Weiss spoke, concerned as the woman started moving weirdly. It didn't take her long to realize what was about to happen. "Jaune, catch her, she's gonna faint!"

* * *

It was over.

The fighting was done, Blake and another two of her group were the survivors.

And, anticlimactic as it may be, the only event that followed was simply the opening of one of the gates, allowing them to exit the arena.

The remainder of cheering from the crowd died out as they walked through the gate. Immediately met by their former escorts, led by that one scarred man.

The one scarred man who was now smiling. "Yes, yes! I knew it, I knew so since the beginning! This was a truly fortunate group!"

Silence took over as the gate closed, the man, with a state of satisfaction, ushered for them to follow. "You. walk with me." He added, pointing at the only woman present other than Blake.

Seeing that she was hesitant, one of the guards started pushing her with his rifle to her back until she was walking side by side with the disfigured leader.

Said leader started speaking to her in a low tone, low enough that even Blake could only barely make out a few words with the help of her heightened faunus senses.

Something about hiding, fright, then courage. That's all what she could make out from the short conversation before the woman fell back in line.

"You, come here." The man spoke again, this time pointing at Blake.

It didn't take long for a guard to start pushing her forward, she didn't resist, and stopped next to the leader, keeping her pace with him.

The man made a point of keeping his voice low. "Give me the knife."

"What?"

"Give me the knife in your pocket." He repeated. "I will not ask again."

Blake sighed, pulling out a small knife from inside her Atleasian jacket. It wasn't worth the fight to keep it.

The man took the knife away. "You'll get searched whenever entering the cell, if you're found to be carrying any weapon. Well..." He smiled. "You know."

Blake didn't reply, there was nothing for her to say, instead, she tried to focus on memorizing the place and intersecting hallways more and more.

Yet that proved hard, as the man continued speaking. "You, lady, just killed a man who survived the arena over twenty times like he was nothing." He paused, as they neared the cell. "I'd be forever ashamed to face the gods if I let such prowess die to such stupidity."

He inserted the key to the cell. "Anything else on you, dear?"

Blake, managing not to gag after being called 'dear' by a psychopathic maniac, replied by shaking her head.

"Good, in you go." He said.

A guard was waiting, he searched each of the three for weapons as they went in. After doing so, they were locked back inside with the rest of the cell. "Rejoice!" The scarred man yelled from outside. "Your glorious, magnificent and brave friends have earned you double the rations for the day!" His tone could only be described as celebratory. "May you feast until you can do so no more!"

* * *

"Hey Ruby," Jaune spoke, no Crescent Rose to the face this time, thankfully.

"J-" Her words trailed off, unable to think straight anymore. Until she snapped out of it. "Jaune!" She says, almost forgetting to keep her voice down.

"Ruby..." was the only thing Jaune could say as he looked at the state she was in. One of her eyes was completely closed while the other was barely open, her body was swaying as she stood, unable to hold herself together.

"Y-yeah."

"Ruby, please, this is too much. You can't stand."

"I can... take care of it." She barely manages to say, reaching for a small waterskin wrapped to her waist, she poured some water into her hand and splashed it across her face. "There, all good."

"That going to keep you awake for a few minutes at most," Jaune said, noticing that she dropped her waterskin on the ground instead of actually strapping it back.

"Then I'll do it again when I feel like I need it."

"Really?" Jaune said. "With what?"

"With my waters- wait where did it g-"

"You mean this?" Jaune said as he knelt to take the waterskin, he waved it in front of her. "You're so tired you dropped it an didn't even notice."

Ruby managed to find enough pace to snatch it back, she had an unamused look on her face. "Get off my ass, Jaune. I don't need your lectures."

"I'm not-" Jaune stopped himself, already knowing he was going to start an argument if he keeps going on.

That wasn't what Ruby needed, nor what any of them needed.

He sighs. "Look, Ruby..." He stared into her eyes.

She was so tired, it was like she wasn't nearing her limit, but she'd already surpassed it by miles.

"Ruby, just for one time, this one night... can you rest? I promise I'll keep an eye out."

"J..." the silver-eyed huntress trailed off, the effects of the water visibly coming off. "Jaune, I c- can't."

Before Jaune could reply, the huntress in front of him tripped on her own feet, only his fast reaction allowed him to catch her before she does.

He gave her his shoulder to lean on.

"M- maybe sleeping isn't such a bad idea, after all," Ruby spoke.

Jaune held onto her words like a tiger to their prey. "Yes, and I'll keep watch, I promise."

"No... that's not how I will... uhh."

"Ruby? Ruby?" Jaune spoke after Ruby's sentence trailed off.

She fell asleep on his shoulder.

Jaune tried to look behind him without moving too much, but just as he started doing so, the girl leaning on him started moving.

It was evident that she's going to wake up from anything other than the slightest movement, if even that wouldn't wake her up.

Jaune quickly made up his mind, maybe she will get mad at him for this, but he had to take this opportunity to let her get some rest. And so, as slowly as it was humanely possible, he laid her down, leaning her back against a tree. He then made his way to his sleeping bag and took it.

When he was back to Ruby, he folded his bag into a square-like shape and gently pushed his friend off the tree, just enough so he can set his makeshift pillow behind her head.

He then silently sat down on the ground. He promised his friend that he'll keep watch, and that was a promise he intended to keep.

* * *

With this chapter out of the way, I hope to be able to upload with a bit more consistency, so I will be attempting to give my self a deadline for next chapter. And that deadline is the end of April. But the chapter could come out before that. Just not after, hopefully.

Stories live off reviews, so if you have the time, please drop your opinion, everything is read carefully and criticism is put into heart. It is much appreciated!

Thanks again to my beta. MidKnightMoonglow99.

_**Much love and stay HOME!**_


	5. Hiatus

I'd like to start by thanking you for your interest in Memories of a Future, and then apologies for any disappointment I may cause thanks to this announcement.

I've taken the decision to put this story on hiatus, I just don't exactly feel like I should be writing this at the moment, and I hope you understand my decision. Note that this story is NOT cancelled, but I do believe the hiatus will be between 6 months and a year.

Thanks again for your time and special thanks to my beta-reader, MidKnightMoonglow99, I enjoyed working with you a lot, even if it was just for a short while!


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